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Rise and Rise of Offshore Wind and the Opportunities for the Subsea Industry – SubTel Forum

Posted on October 8, 2020 by Danzig

By Shashank KrishnaSeptember 21, 2020

THE OFFSHORE WIND OPPORTUNITY

BPs decision in September 2020 to enter the offshore wind marks another significant win for the offshore wind industry. While the global renewable energy investments have been remarkably resilient in 2020 despite the pandemic and the attendant economic disruption, the offshore wind sector has been a standout area for the renewables.

According to the latest research from BloombergNEF[1] (BNEF), the Offshore wind financings in the first half of 2020 totalled approx. $35 billion, up 319% year-on-year, well above 2019s record full-year figure of $31.9 billion, making it one of the busiest 1H ever for offshore wind.

According to the International Energy Agencys (IEA) Offshore Wind Outlook 2019[2], offshore wind is set to expand strongly into a $1 trillion business over the next two decades growing by 13% / year. This is on the back of an impressive growth of 30% / year between 2010 and 2018. There are nearly 150 new offshore wind projects in development around the world.

The future for offshore winds looks even more promising.

According to the IEA, under the current plans and scenarios, the offshore wind sector is expected to see investments in the range of $840 billion to $1.2 trillion over the next two decades.

The IEAs technical analysis suggests that offshore winds technical potential is 36 000 TWh / year for near-shore installations. Global electricity demand is currently 23 000 TWh. If the offshore wind installations move further away from the shores into deeper waters as is presently underway, floating turbines could unlock enough energy to meet the worlds total electricity demand 11 times over by 2040. This means that offshore wind can become the mainstay of future electricity systems in the key markets an important reason why the offshore wind industry is attracting increasing investor interest, including from the likes of oil & gas supermajors and financial institutions.

[1] https://about.bnef.com/blog/colossal-six-months-for-offshore-wind-support-renewable-energy-investment-in-first-half-of-2020/

[2] IEA (2019), Offshore Wind Outlook 2019, IEA, Paris https://www.iea.org/reports/offshore-wind-outlook-2019

To continue reading the rest of this article, please read it in Issue 114 of theSubTel Forum Magazine on page 44 or on our archive site here.

UK Government seeks offshore wind support information – reNEWS

Posted on October 8, 2020 by Danzig

The UK Government isrequesting information from coastal landowners and developers with an interest in supporting UK offshore wind manufacturing.

Following Prime Minister Boris Johnson's announcement of160m to upgrade ports and factories for building turbines, it is seeking expressions of interest from potential large scale manufacturing portside hubs.

Sites with significant quayside capability, quay length and water depth, that are capable of accommodating heavy lifting vessels and wider supply vessels for multiple tenants, are urged to apply.

The Government is also looking for connected land for marshalling to support the build out of typically 2-3GW of offshore wind capacity per annum, including the potential for storage of products to bridge between manufacturing and installation cycles.

In addition, it is requesting sufficient land availability to support multiple manufacturers on the site, including enough flexibility to "future-proof" facilities for expansion.

This would be a minimum 200 ha or more area of development and storage land is needed behind the quay (not including land for transport and logistics movements around the port hub).

All projects should have a realistic chance of completing construction or being partly operational by 2023

Interested partiesshouldreply with information on their sites and potential projects to OWMIS@Beis.gov.ukby Friday 30 October.

This will lead to an initial stage of engagement, before a more formalised appraisal of any potential projects, the Department for Business, Energyand Industrial Strategy said.

The scheme aims to accelerate the development of large scale manufacturing portside hubs, which could see financial support to strengthen the UKs offshore wind manufacturing capability, creating employment and investment in both coastal communities and the wider supply chain.

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UK Government seeks offshore wind support information - reNEWS

In a First, ROVOP Inspects Offshore Installation via Video Link – Offshore Engineer

Posted on October 8, 2020 by Danzig

UK-based ROV services provider ROVOP has said it has delivered its first remote platform-based inspection, repair, and maintenance workscope, "effectively reducing the number of personnel required offshore," on Premier Oil's Balmoral floating production vessel in the UK North Sea.

The ROV company carried out remote visual and NDT inspections of hull sections, flowlines, umbilicals, and risers, along with chain inspection, measurement, and cleaning, on the Balmoral unit with the help of a live video stream.

"Using the latest communications and modeling technology, ROVOP worked closely with Premier Oil to develop a robust live video streaming service back to shore. Two-way open communications allowed the inspection and data recording engineers to run the workscope remotely from onshore, resulting in three less people on board the vessel, where accommodation is limited due to the COVID-imposed restrictions," ROVOP said.

Premier Oil, which on Tuesday said it would merge with Chrysaor, last month filed the decommissioning plan for the Balmoral FPV and the associated subsea infrastructure. The Balmoral platform was installed in the Balmoral Area in 1986.

ROVOP said that the cloud-based viewing platform allowed those working from home to view the inspection work as it unfolded.

"They were able to see exactly what the ROV and inspection engineers were seeing in real-time. Data, which would once have taken weeks to return from offshore to be analyzed, was captured as those watching onshore were able to influence the operation live, making the campaign much more efficient," ROVOP said.Credit: ROVOP

Also, ROVOP selected subsea mooring inspection and integrity engineering specialists Welaptega, an Ashtead Technology company, to support the project. Welaptega's mooring inspection and 3D modeling photogrammetry equipment was integrated into the ROV to enable accurate and repeatable chain measurement and 3D modeling of the subsea template.

The point cloud data produced will be used to assist the planning of the template removal, ROVOP said.

The main components of the Balmoral field consist of; the Balmoral FPV, Balmoral Template, 11 template and 10 satellite wells, a riser system, pipelines, umbilicals, and cables.

Paul Hudson, ROVOPs sales and marketing director, said: "Reducing numbers of people offshore has clear benefits in terms of risk, cost and overall efficiency and, of course, it is particularly relevant when dealing with the challenges presented to the offshore industry by the coronavirus pandemic. This project underlines how digitalization and collaboration can address some of our most pressing industry challenges.

David Robertson, diving & ROV engineer with Premier Oil, added: This is a fantastic achievement for both ROVOP and Premier Oil. Through a lot of hard work and collaboration with respective network technology companies, we managed to de-risk personnel traveling to an offshore installation during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Executing work of this nature from an installation is always challenging due to bed space requirements. We have proven that inspection activities can be done with a significant reduction in manpower offshore, which potentially paves the way for cost and greenhouse gas reductions across our other assets in the future.

Credit: Premier Oil

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In a First, ROVOP Inspects Offshore Installation via Video Link - Offshore Engineer

Living quarters, pipe racks in place on offshore Israel FPSO – Offshore Oil and Gas Magazine

Posted on October 8, 2020 by Danzig

Living quarter module installation.

(Courtesy Energean)

Offshore staff

LONDON Sembcorp Marines crane barge L-3601 has lifted the living quarter (LQ) module and eight pipe rack modules onto the FPSO Energean Power hull at the Admiralty Yard in Singapore.

The FPSO will produce gas from the Karish field in the Israeli sector of the Mediterranean Sea, operated by Energean.

The LQ module 20 m (65.6 ft) long, 40 m (131 ft) wide, 26 m (85 ft) high and weighing 1,727 metric tons (1,904 tons) has seven decks and will accommodate 70 people during normal operations in single occupancy cabins.

However, in periods of heavy maintenance, this could rise to 120 personnel by increasing most cabins of the cabins to double occupancy.

The pipe racks are designed to carry interface piping between the various modules and hull systems and to provide space for cable trays connecting the modules to the electrical house and instrument technical room.

Karish EPCIC contractor TechnipFMC has engaged Jumbos heavy liftcrane vessel Fairplayer to lift and connect the vessels 14 pre-laid and wet-stored mooring lines to the FPSO Energean Power, after it has sailed from Singapore to Israel next summer.

Energean is targeting first gas in the second half of 2021.

10/07/2020

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Living quarters, pipe racks in place on offshore Israel FPSO - Offshore Oil and Gas Magazine

Trump’s Offshore Oil Ban Will Hit Wind Farms Hard – OilPrice.com

Posted on October 8, 2020 by Danzig

Last month, President Trump shocked the entire oil industry after extending the existing moratorium on oil drilling along Floridas, Georgias and South Carolinas coasts. The announcement marked a complete 180 from White Houses previous stance that sought to open up those areas to oil drilling and caught many industry officials, congressional aides, and lobbyists, who have been working on the same issue, completely off-guard. It also went contrary to the sentiment of voters in those regions--including the majority of Democrats-- who say they are more likely to vote for a candidate who supports access to oil and gas produced in the U.S.

Under normal circumstances, Trumps stance would have been a big win by the clean energy camp and environmentalists who have been opposed to drilling activity in threatened areas. Unfortunately, it turns out that the renewables energy sector will be just as severely impacted by the moratorium.

Trumps decision to rule out energy development along the East Coast will bar not only offshore oil and gas drilling but coastal wind farm development in equal measure.

The Interior Department agency has confirmed the broad reach of Trumps latest orders and is likely to significantly impact U.S. wind development, a sector that has lately been recording the fastest growth amidst the Covid-19 pandemic.

$1Trillion Offshore Wind

Last year, Paris-based International Energy Council (IEA) forecast that supplies from turbines will prove to be the next great energy revolution.

The IEA has forecast that the offshore wind sector will experience impressive growth over the next two decades to eclipse the $1 trillion mark in cumulative investments by the end of the forecast period. That would entail a 15-fold growth in investment compared to 2019 levels.

As expected, Europe has again been projected to lead the charge, managing to grow its offshore wind capacity from 20 gigawatts to nearly 130 gigawatts by 2040, driven by a huge demand growth by green hydrogen-poweredby wind energy. China, however, is expected to record the biggest growth with its offshore capacity set to rise from 4 gigawatts in 2019 to 110 gigawatts by 2040, a nearly 28x jump. The Middle Kingdom could do even better, with the IEA saying it could grow its capacity to 170 gigawatts if Beijing adopts more stringent climate targets.

Well, the IEA might have been spot on with its predictions, if early results are any indication.

Related: Oil Prices Stuck In Limbo As Uncertainty Mounts

Despite the Covid-19 slump that has negatively impacted virtually all energy sectors, offshore wind has been experiencing phenomenal growth. The Guardian has reported that global offshore wind investments reached $35 billion in the first half of 2020, representing the most growth by any energy sector during the Covid-19 crisis. That was a sizzling 4x growth and already surpassed investments for the entire 2019.

Source: The Guardian

Offshore wind has enormous potential and can, in fact, generate more energy than the world needs.

Detailed studies of the worlds coastlines have found that offshore wind farms alone could power the entire globe--even if they are only built in windy regions in shallow waters near the shore. The IEA has revealed that if wind farms were built across all useable sites no further than 60km (37 miles) off the coast and coastal waters depths not exceeding 60 meters, they could generate 36,000 terawatt-hours of renewable electricity a year, thus easily meeting our global demand for electricity of 23,000 terawatt-hours.

Thats an eye-opening revelation considering that offshore wind currently provides just 0.3% of global power generation.

Unfortunately, Trumps ban might make an already dire situation worse for the United States.

The U.S. offshore wind sector remains severely underdeveloped, with the countrys sole offshore commercial wind farm, the Block Island Wind Farm, generating just 30MW of electricity. In sharp contrast, the country has a total installed wind generation capacity of 107,443 MW after adding another 1,800MW during the first half of 2020. Thats really sad since the DOE says U.S. offshore wind resources have enough potential to generate more than 2,000 GW of electricity annually--nearly double the nations current electricity consumption.

Hopefully, that could change with the right policies in place: The Special Initiative for Offshore Wind has projected a $70 billion business pipeline in the U.S. by 2030.

By Alex Kimani for Oilprice.com

Proserv and Synaptec Ink Cable Monitoring Deal – Offshore WIND

Posted on October 8, 2020 by Danzig

Proserv and Synaptec have signed a strategic alliance agreement to develop an integrated cable monitoring system for offshore wind projects.

Synaptecs passive distributed electromechanical sensing (DES) technology will be incorporated within the monitoring solution.

According to the companies, this is expected to enable faults and failures to be identified pre-emptively, through a non-intrusive approach, allowing the end-user savings in installation costs and in providing the capability to mitigate the occurrence of faults.

Cable failures continue to be a significant challenge for the offshore wind sector, said Philip Orr, Managing Director at Synaptec.Through this new partnership we are bringing to market a solution which will support the growth and progress of the energy transition and positively impact the operations and maintenance costs for offshore wind operators.

The parties stated that the objective of the partnership is to move both companies forward in several energy markets, including offshore wind and upstream oil and gas, via the co-development of innovative products and services.

Proserv and Synaptec Ink Cable Monitoring Deal - Offshore WIND

Norway kicks off construction of world’s largest floating offshore wind farm – WorldOil

Posted on October 8, 2020 by Danzig

10/1/2020

Hywind Tampen floating wind farm layout

OSLO - Prime Minister Erna Solberg and Kvrner apprentice Arne Linga started construction of Hywind Tampen, a floating offshore wind farm, at Kvrner Stord. The technology project opens up new opportunities for Norwegian industry. Prime Minister Solberg and Linga started the cutting robot on the project's first sheet of steel on Thursday, 1 October. Kvrners assignment will include building 11 floating concrete hulls for the turbines on Hywind Tampen.

"Hywind Tampen is a new chapter in Norways narrative as an energy nation. With support from the Norwegian authorities, we're not only building Norways first offshore wind project; we're refining floating offshore wind technology along with the Norwegian supplier industry," says Equinor president and CEO Eldar Stre.

"Eighty percent of the world's offshore wind resources are located in deep water areas and are available for floating offshore wind projects. If we can use projects like Hywind Tampen to make floating offshore wind competitive with other forms of energy, the technology will be able to deliver large-scale renewable power and contribute to a more sustainable global energy supply. A floating offshore wind market will also open up considerable industrial opportunities for Norwegian industry," Stre says.

The development of the Hywind Tampen project involves around 250 full-time equivalents for Kvrner employees. Kvrner's project will also generate around 800 full-time equivalents in ripple effects for suppliers and the public sector, among others.

Equinor's ambition is for floating offshore wind to be competitive with other forms of energy by 2030.

"By using larger turbines, concrete substructures, new technology and a new assembly method, we're well on our way toward delivering on the objective to reduce costs by more than 40% compared with Hywind Scotland. This is an important step to establish floating wind as a sustainable power supply alternative," says Hywind Tampen project director Olav-Bernt Haga.

"If more major floating offshore wind projects are realised in the future, it will be possible to reduce costs even further, and we could see a development in cost reductions equivalent to the one we've seen in fixed foundation offshore wind," Haga says.

Equinor sees a potential for floating offshore wind projects in Norway, the UK, Europe, the US and Asia.

The Hywind Tampen project will be the first floating offshore wind project to supply renewable power for oil and gas installations. The wind farm will have a total capacity of 88 MW, and is expected to cover about 35 percent of the annual power needs on the five platforms Snorre A and B and Gullfaks A, B and C.

Hywind Tampen will reduce emissions from the Gullfaks and Snorre fields by more than 200,000 tonnes per year, which corresponds to annual emissions from 100,000 private vehicles.

Equinor has been a pioneer in floating offshore wind technology and has been working on this technology for nearly 20 years. When the Hywind Tampen project is operational in 2022, the company will be operating one-third of the global floating offshore wind capacity.

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Norway kicks off construction of world's largest floating offshore wind farm - WorldOil

SOCARENAM from France to deliver 3 Offshore Patrol Vessels to Polish Coast Guard – Navy Recognition

Posted on October 8, 2020 by Danzig

According to a press release published on October 5, 2020, the French company SOCARENAM has announced the signature of a contract with Poland for the delivery of 3 Offshore Patrol Vessels for the Polish Coast Guard.Follow Navy Recognition on Google News at this link

Drawing of future Offshore Patrol Vessel for Polish Coast Guard. (Picture source SOCARENAM)

Following a European call for tenders with competitive bidding launched at the end of 2019, SOCARENAM was able to develop and propose a tailor-made, high-performance and competitive technical solution designed to meet the Coast Guard's demanding specifications. After the delivery of the 3 patrol boats for the French Customs, the 2 patrol boats for the Belgian Navy, the 3 patrol boats for the French Navy and the next 6 under construction also for the French Navy, SOCARENAM confirms its position as leader, in France and Europe, for the design and construction of high-tech offshore patrol boats.

Designed in collaboration with the MAURIC naval architecture firm in Marseille and 70 meters long, the patrol boat will have a reinforced steel hull and aluminum superstructures. With a capacity to accommodate 35 people autonomously for one month, the vessel will be equipped with two high-speed RHIBs and an aerial mini-UAV. It will be financed by the European Internal Security Fund and the Polish State, and will be operated by the Polish Coast Guard, mainly for the control of the European Union's external borders. It will be based in Gdansk and will be able to operate in all European waters, from the icy waters of the Baltic Sea to the warm waters of the Mediterranean.

The patrol boat, a truly multi-purpose vessel, will be able to carry out many State Action at Sea missions and will be equipped with all the necessary equipment: from intervention RHIBs to fire-fighting monitors, anti-pollution equipment, a mini surveillance UAV and a large open area dedicated to the accommodation of survivors.

This new contract demonstrates once again SOCARENAM's ability to design and build customized vessels to meet the needs of State Action at Sea organizations. It will enable the shipyard to continue its growth in this market sector, thereby strengthening its involvement in the recruitment and training of new employees to ensure the long-term development of skills.

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SOCARENAM from France to deliver 3 Offshore Patrol Vessels to Polish Coast Guard - Navy Recognition

W&T Offshore Provides Operational Update and Announces Timing of Third Quarter Earnings Reporting – GlobeNewswire

Posted on October 8, 2020 by Danzig

HOUSTON, Oct. 05, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- W&T Offshore, Inc. (NYSE: WTI) (W&T or the Company) today provided an operational update and announced the timing of its third quarter 2020 earnings release and conference call.

Operations UpdateProduction across the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) has been significantly impacted by an extraordinary six named storms thus far in this hurricane season. All of these storms resulted in varying amounts of production being shut-in depending on the size and path of the storms. Tropical Storm Cristobal impacted W&Ts second quarter 2020 production while Hurricanes Hanna, Marco, Laura, Sally and Beta caused production shut-ins during the third quarter of 2020. Primarily due to the significant impact of these storms, unplanned downtime at Mobile Bay, and previously-announced planned downtime at the Magnolia field, the Company currently estimates its third quarter 2020 volumes will average 32,500 to 33,900 barrels of oil equivalent per day (Boe/d), with approximately 35% oil, 12% natural gas liquids, and 53% natural gas.

W&T has restored a portion of its shut-in operated and non-operated production but continues to have production shut-in primarily due to extended storm-related downtime at several fields and at a third-party operated platform downstream from the Magnolia field. W&T did not experience any material damage to any of its platforms or infrastructure from the series of storms, but did incur approximately $5 million in additional costs related to repairs and restoring production following multiple shut-ins. Nonetheless, W&T expects that its overall costs and expenses for the third quarter and full year 2020 will be in-line with the guidance it previously provided, but per-unit costs will be higher due to lower production volumes. There continues to be tropical storm activity in the Gulf of Mexico in early October and as a reminder, hurricane season extends until November 30. As such, there remains the potential for additional tropical weather impact to production and costs in the fourth quarter of 2020. Currently, W&T estimates its fourth quarter production will average 31,500 to 35,000 Boe/d which includes the ongoing impact from prior storms and other planned shut-ins, as well as an estimate of additional potential storm-related downtime for the balance of the fourth quarter.

Tracy W. Krohn, W&T's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, commented, This year has been particularly difficult for energy producers, including a global COVID-19 pandemic, supply and demand imbalances and the most active tropical storm season in the GOM over the past 10 years. The third quarter had five hurricanes enter the GOM, which caused significant production to be shut-in but minimal physical damage. These storms and unplanned downtime at Mobile Bay adversely impacted our production by nearly 9,000 Boe/d in the third quarter. Production in the fourth quarter is forecasted to be between 31,500 and 35,000 Boe/d, depending on when Magnolia and other fields are restored to production, and includes the impact of additional shut-ins at Mobile Bay including consolidation of the gas plants and the potential impact from additional tropical storms. Despite this, we continue to generate positive adjusted EBITDA and we reduced our spending early this year to ensure that we continue to generate free cash flow. This is a cyclical business and we have faced active hurricane seasons in the past, but our success over nearly40 years has been because of our focus on cash flow generation and operating efficiently. We will not lose sight of this and continue to believe in the long-term viability of our assets and the Gulf of Mexico.

Third Quarter Earnings Release and Conference Call The Company said it will issue its third quarter 2020 earnings release on Wednesday, November 4, 2020, after the close of trading and host a conference call to discuss financial and operational results on Thursday, November 5, 2020, at 10:00 a.m. Central Time (11:00 am Eastern Time.)

Interested parties may participate by dialing (844) 739-3797. International parties may dial (412) 317-5713. Participants should request to be joined to the W&T Offshore, Inc. Conference Call. This call will also be webcast and available on W&T Offshores website at http://www.wtoffshore.com under Investors. An audio replay will be available on the Companys website following the call.

About W&T Offshore

W&T Offshore, Inc. is an independent oil and natural gas producer with operations offshore in the Gulf of Mexico and has grown through acquisitions, exploration and development. The Company currently has working interests in 51 producing fields in federal and state waters and has under lease approximately 772,000 gross acres, including approximately 557,000 gross acres on the Gulf of Mexico Shelf and approximately 215,000 gross acres in the Gulf of Mexico deepwater. A majority of the Companys daily production is derived from wells it operates. For more information on W&T, please visit the Companys website at http://www.wtoffshore.com.

Forward-Looking and Cautionary Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These forward-looking statements reflect our current views with respect to future events, based on what we believe are reasonable assumptions. No assurance can be given, however, that these events will occur. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially including, among other things, market conditions, oil and gas price volatility, uncertainties inherent in oil and gas production operations and estimating reserves, unexpected future capital expenditures, competition, the success of our risk management activities, governmental regulations, the continued impact of responses to COVID-19, uncertainties and other factors discussed in W&T Offshores Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019 and subsequent Form 10-Q and Form 8-K reports found at http://www.sec.gov or at our website at http://www.wtoffshore.com under the Investor Relations section. Investors are urged to consider closely the disclosures and risk factors in these reports.

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W&T Offshore Provides Operational Update and Announces Timing of Third Quarter Earnings Reporting - GlobeNewswire

Government offshore asylum idea attacked as ‘morally bankrupt’ – The Guardian

Posted on October 8, 2020 by Danzig

Humanitarian groups and charities have reacted with fury to revelations that No 10 officials explored sending asylum seekers to offshore detention centres in Moldova, Morocco and south Atlantic islands, branding the move morally bankrupt.

A source close to the Home Office told the Guardian that the prime ministers chief adviser, Dominic Cummings, had become obsessed with the Channel crossings in the weeks before documents on the implications of the idea were produced in mid-September.

Hes annoyed that its always in the press and he thinks it goes down really badly with the red wall voters, which it does, the source said. And he wants to deal with it. And he thinks these quite extreme ways would be totally fine with red wall voters, which it probably is.

The documents seen by the Guardian suggest the government has for weeks been working on detailed plans that include cost estimates of building asylum detention camps on the south Atlantic islands of Ascension and St Helena, as well as Moldova, Morocco and Papua New Guinea.

Humanitarian groups and refugee charities condemned the proposals. The Amnesty International UK director, Kate Allen, said: It is a dismal reflection upon Home Office ministers that this idea to effectively exile people seeking asylum to far-flung and isolated places has been given any consideration at all. This would be entirely immoral and inhumane.

The chief executive of Refugee Action, Stephen Hale, said: The governments speculative plans to round up human beings and confine them to prison boats or camps on remote islands are inhumane and morally bankrupt Britain is better than this. We need a fair and effective asylum system, based on compassion, safety, and the rule of law.

Andy Hewett, head of advocacy at the Refugee Council, said: The Australian model has shown that offshore detention leads to catastrophic outcomes, including high levels of self-harm and mental illness. Its an immoral and inhumane policy.

Minnie Rahman, public affairs and campaigns manager at the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI), said the proposals were cruel and farcical, adding: These proposals are so ridiculous, theyre almost laughable.

However, some Conservative MPs expressed support for the idea. Andrew Bridgen, the Tory MP for North West Leicestershire, said he had been a long-term supporter of offshore centres to hold asylum seekers.

He said: This is a terrific idea and would be popular. I hope we use unused ferries and unused cruise ships. I have been suggesting this for a while. It would mean that the people who come here could not abscond and could be quickly assessed and considered for removal at speed.

This could dissuade them from putting their lives in the hands of the ruthless people-traffickers.

George Freeman, the Tory MP for Mid Norfolk, said: With 50 million asylum seekers in the world, and forecasts of 1 billion global migrants as a result of climate change, the government is right to look at what a responsible, fair and sustainable asylum policy would be, to avoid the appalling scenes of refugees and victims of human trafficking flooding to claim asylum in the UK.

A senior Whitehall source played down the possibility of an offshore centre ever being established, but said the idea had to be taken seriously because, as assumed, it comes with the backing of Johnsons chief of staff.

This is still at the Doms brain fart stage. No one in government has as yet identified a place for an offshore centre; there have been no talks with other governments. But everyone has to kick the tyres, because it came from him, the source said.

A Conservative source said the idea of offshore holding centres for migrants was raised by Oliver Letwin when the Conservatives were in opposition and under the leadership of David Cameron. David and George [Osborne] rightly told him to have a cold shower, the source said.

The documents reveal that trials had taken place of a blockade in the Channel similar to Australias controversial turn back the boats tactic. Seven thousand migrants have arrived in the UK in small boats across the Channel so far this year, according to PA Media analysis more than three times the number of arrivals by this route in the whole of 2019.

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Government offshore asylum idea attacked as 'morally bankrupt' - The Guardian

The Secretive Networks Used to Move Money Offshore – USC Viterbi School of Engineering

Posted on October 8, 2020 by Danzig

USC Viterbi researchers have discovered a unique and highly-fragmented organizational network within the Panama Papers. Image/Wikimedia Commons

In 2016, the worlds largest ever data leak dubbed The Panama Papers exposed a scandal, uncovering a vast global network of peopleincluding celebrities and world leaders, who used offshore tax havens, anonymous transactions through intermediaries and shell corporations to hide their wealth, grow their fortunes and avoid taxes.

Researchers at USC Viterbi School of Engineering have now conducted a deep analysis of the entities and their interrelationships that were originally revealed in the 11.5 million files leaked to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. The academic researchers have made some discoveries about how this network and transactions operate, uncovering uniquely fragmented network behavior, vastly different from more traditional social or organizational networks, demonstrating why these systems of transactions and associations are so robust and difficult to infiltrate or take down. The work has been published inApplied Network Science.

Lead author Mayank Kejriwal is an assistant professor working in the Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering and USCs Information Sciences Institute who studies complex (typically, social) systems like online sex markets using computational methods and network science. He said the research teams aim was to study the Panama Papers network as a whole, in the same way you might study a social network like Facebook, to try to understand what the network behavior can tell us about how money can be moved.

In general, in any social network like LinkedIn or Facebook, there is something called Small World Phenomenon, which means that youre only ever around six people away from anyone in the world, Kejriwal said.

For instance, if you want get from yourself to Bill Gates, on average you would be around six connections away, he said.

However the team discovered that the Panama Papers network was about as far removed from this traditional social or organizational network behavior as it could possibly be. Instead of a network of highly integrated connections, the researchers discovered a series of secretive disconnected fragments, with entities, intermediaries and individuals involved in transactions and corporations exhibiting very few connections with other entities in the system.

It was really unusual. The degree of fragmentation is something I have never seen before, said Kejriwal. Im not aware of any other network that has this kind of fragmentation.

So (without any documentation or leak), if you wanted to find the chain between one organization and another organization, you would not be able to find it, because the chances are that that there is no chain its completely disconnected, Kejriwal said.

Most social, friendship or organizational networks contain a series of triangular structures in a system known as the friend of a friend phenomenon.

The simple notion is that a friend of a friend is also a friend, Kejriwal said. And we can measure that by counting the number of triangles in the network.

Countries with individuals implicated in the Panama Papers. Image/Wikimedia Commons

However, the team discovered that this triangular structure was not a feature of the Panama Papers network.

It turns out that not only is it not prevalent, but its far less than prevalent than even for a random network, Kejriwal said. If you literally randomly connect things, in a haphazard fashion and then you count the triangles in that network, this network is even sparser than that. He added, Compared to a random network, in this type of network, links between financial entities are scrambled until they are essentially meaningless (so that anyone can be transacting with anyone else).

It is precisely this disconnectedness that makes the system of secret global financial dealings so robust. Because there was no way to trace relationships between entities, the network could not be easily compromised.

So what this suggests is that secrecy is built into the system and you cannot penetrate it, Kejriwal said.

In an interconnected world, we dont expect anyone to be impenetrable. Everyone has a weak link, Kejriwal said. But not in this network. The fact it is so fragmented actually protects them.

Kejriwal said the network behavior demonstrates that those involved in the Panama Papers network of offshore entities and transactions were very sophisticated, knowing exactly how to move money around in a way that it becomes untraceable and they are not vulnerable through their connections to others in the system. Because it is a global network, there are few options for national or international bodies to intervene in order to recoup taxes and investigate corruption and money laundering.

I dont know how anyone would try to bring this down, and Im not sure that they would be able to. The system seems unattackable, Kejriwal said.

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The Secretive Networks Used to Move Money Offshore - USC Viterbi School of Engineering

Danish Offshore Wind Project Goes Into Overdrive – Offshore WIND

Posted on October 8, 2020 by Danzig

Danish transmission system operator Energinet is starting offshore surveys at the Hessel wind project offshore Denmark.

Fugro is deploying two vessels to carry out a geophysical survey of the 248 km2 area located in Kattegatt, 20-30 kilometres north of Sjlland.

The campaign is expected to be conducted over the next four to five months, Energinet said.

At the same time, Energinet is starting surveys along the two proposed export cable routes with potential landfalls at Gilbjerg Hoved or Kyndby. The decision on the export cable route will be made by the Danish Energy Agency later this year, Energinet said.

During the winter of 2020/2021, Energinet will also carry out environmental studies for the project. The metocean surveys will be conducted over the next year and a half. A geotechnical survey campaign is scheduled to start in the summer of 2021.

Energinet will also carry out environmental studies and obtain environmental and planning permits for the necessary land infrastructure including a small switching station.

Danish Energy Agency instructed Energinet to start preliminary investigations for the project at the beginning of July. The agency has now granted Energinet the permit to carry out the investigations which is valid from 1 October 2020 to 1 April 2022.

Hessel is the second of the three offshore wind farms proposed in DenmarksEnergy Agreement 2018, the first being theThorproject.

Initially, Hessel was scheduled for commissioning in 2028, but according to therecently approvedClimate Action Plan, both Hessel and Thor will be commissioned in 2027.

Denmark plans to start the tendering procedure for the development of the wind farm in 2021 and select the winner in 2022.

Normally we carry out seabed surveys during the summer, where there is little risk that the ships will have to go into port due to bad weather, said Jens Colberg-Larsen of Energinet, in charge of carrying out the offshore surveys.

But for Hessel Offshore Wind Farm, we have to do the surveys in the winter. This is due to the fact that the offshore wind farm has been advanced and must be ready to supply electricity in 2027 compared to the original 2028.

The Hessel wind farm will have an installed capacity of between 800 MW and 1,200 MW and can thus potentially become the largest offshore wind farm in Denmark.

Between 800 MW and 1,000 MW of the capacity will be used to produce and deliver electricity straight to the national grid. The developers will also have an option to develop up to 200 MW of overplanting capacity.

This additional capacity can be used to ensure a more continuous flow of electricity to the grid, or it can be used in combination with battery storage or power-to-x projects.

The developers should include the battery storage and power-to-x projects into their bids if possible, the Danish Energy Agency said, adding that the preliminary studies should also take these options into account.

Danish Offshore Wind Project Goes Into Overdrive - Offshore WIND

Moray East Offshore Construction Ramps Up – Offshore WIND

Posted on October 8, 2020 by Danzig

Cable laying vessel Living Stone has started the first inter-array cable installation campaign at the 950 MW Moray East wind farm offshore Scotland.

The wind farm will feature 100 66 kV inter-array cables and two offshore substation interconnector cables supplied by JDR Cable System.

The installation campaign will be carried out in three phases. The first campaign started on 29 September and will continue for eight weeks.

Boskalis is in charge of supplying and installing the inter-array cables for the 100-turbine project.

Export Cables

Cable laying vessel NKT Victoria is expected to lay the wind farms three export cables by 3 October. Havila Phoenix is burying the cables.

The first export cable made landfall at Inverboyndie in late August.

Cable burial and trenching work is ongoing, with the trenching expected to continue until early November.

This will be followed by a separate campaign to install remedial protection over the cables on any remaining unburied or unprotected sections.

NKT is in charge of delivering and installing the wind farms export cables.

Foundations

As of 28 September, 35 out of the 100 turbine jacket foundations were installed at the site some 22 kilometres off the Aberdeenshire coast by Seajacks Scylla.

The wind farms three Offshore Transformer Modules (OTMs) have been in place since mid-September.

DEME isthe EPCI contractorfor the wind farms turbinefoundationsand three offshore substation foundations, as well as for the transport and installation of the OTMs.

Moray Eastwill feature 100 MHI Vestas 9.5 MW wind turbines scheduled for full commissioning in 2022.

Moray Offshore Windfarm East Ltd (MOWEL), the developer of the project, is a joint venture company owned by Diamond Green Limited (33.4%), Ocean Winds (56.6%) and CTG (10%).

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Moray East Offshore Construction Ramps Up - Offshore WIND

British plans to ‘offshore’ asylum seekers have a long and grubby history – The Guardian

Posted on October 8, 2020 by Danzig

The home secretary, Priti Patel, has reportedly been exploring a range of outlandish plans for sending refugees who arrive on British shores to very faraway places.

The week began with a Whitehall leak that revealed officials had been asked to consider setting up an immigration centre on Ascension Island, over 4,000 miles away in the South Atlantic. When that idea was kiboshed, further leaks identified other territories being considered for extraterritorial processing, including Moldova, Morocco and Papua New Guinea.

Britain has a long and rather grubby history of sending people to faraway territories in order to solve political problems. The principle that out of sight is out of mind first underpinned the establishment of penal colonies where hundreds of thousands of criminals and other undesirables were banished throughout the British empire.

Other European states have followed suit, the most famous example of such a place being Devils Island, in French Guiana. More recently, in 2002, the United States started using Guantnamo Bay, a US naval base on the southern tip of Cuba, as a detention centre for handling hundreds of unlawful combatants that it refused to put on trial in the US.

In the past two decades governments have toyed with this extraterritorial solution to try to look tough in the face of small numbers of desperate people arriving in Britain. In so doing, asylum seekers who share with you and me the legal right to seek refuge are being treated as criminals.

It was a Labour government in 2003 that first came up with the idea of using offshore immigration processing centres. The context was a rise in asylum applications to the UK, which had seen a 20-fold increase over 15 years. Having already considered both harsh clampdowns and amnesties for deterring asylum seekers, the then home secretary, David Blunkett, enthusiastically supported by Tony Blair, floated a number of proposals for immigration centres outside the UK.

He suggested creating regional protection zones, which would be in, or next to, areas witnessing major flows of people. These zones would offer a safe haven to those fleeing persecution but keep them within touch of their home countries.

His second proposal was to create transit centres on the fringes of the European Union, which would hold all applicants heading west and handle applications for those seeking to enter the UK. The list of proposed sites for these centres has a rather familiar ring, and included nations on the major transit routes such as Turkey, Somalia and Morocco.

Blunketts ideas received the welcome backing of a number of thinktanks, including Demos. But, not to be outdone by New Labour, the Tories followed up a few months later with their own proposals.

The then shadow home secretary, Oliver Letwin, went to the Conservative party conference in October 2003 promising that all asylum seekers arriving in Britain would be immediately deported to a far-offshore processing island. Letwin told the conference in Blackpool: We will replace the present asylum system, in its entirety, with a system of quotas for genuine refugees and the offshore processing of all claims, to deter all but genuine claims for protection from persecution.

And he made clear that under this policy all asylum seekers who reached Britain would find the door closed firmly in their faces. There will be no applications in the United Kingdom, he said.

Asylum welfare groups reacted to the plan with horror ,and there followed an instant chorus of disapproval on human rights grounds. The Refugee Council said it was unlawful, inhumane and ridiculous. Its deputy chief executive, Margaret Lally, said: The UK is committed under international law to providing a safe haven for those fleeing persecution. Others compared the policy to plans more associated with wartime emergencies

But the Tory idea turned out to be half-baked when Letwin admitted that he did not have the slightest idea where the island would be.

However, it is the immigration policy of a former British colony that has given new life to the current home secretarys offshoring designs. Asylum seekers stopped in boats in Australian waters are held in facilities on the offshore islands of Nauru and Manus Island under a policy called Operation Sovereign Borders. There is another one, on Christmas Island. The government seems to believe that if this can work for Australia, there is no reason to stop Britain doing the same.

But these notorious facilities have been a source of much controversy during their time of operation. There have been a number of riots and escapes, as well as accusations of human rights abuses from organisations including Amnesty International, the Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, Human Rights Watch and the United Nations.

The British governments reliance on the Australian solution to a refugee crisis risks once again dangerously muddling refugees rights with those of people convicted of criminal offences. This is a slippery constitutional slope that could cast us adrift from well-established international law. Instead of adopting humane policies for the processing of asylum seekers, the government seems keen to create legal black holes for people who have the right to a fair hearing on British soil.

Robert Verkaik is an author and journalist specialising in extremism and education

British plans to 'offshore' asylum seekers have a long and grubby history - The Guardian

Hornsea Two Offshore Construction Begins – Offshore WIND

Posted on October 8, 2020 by Danzig

The jacket foundation for the offshore substation at the Hornsea Two offshore wind project in the UK has been installed.

The installation of the 4,800-tonne jacket marks the start of the projects offshore construction.

Six weeks ago,10,000 tonnes of steel framework for the pin piles, reactor compensation and offshore substation jacketssailed from Batam, Indonesia, towards the wind farm site in the UK.

Sembcorp Marineis in charge ofthe construction of the offshore substation and RCS at its yard facilities in Singapore.

Were delighted to announce that weve now officially commenced our offshore construction for Hornsea Two with the installation of our offshore substation and reactor compensation jackets, said Patrick Harnett, rsted Senior Programme Director for Hornsea Two.

Through a remarkable feat of engineering together with our partners, weve overcome COVID challenges and are on track for fabricating the worlds largest AC offshore substation, which will be supported by this gigantic steel structure.

Hornsea Twowill comprise165 Siemens Gamesa 8 MW turbines located some 89km north-east of Grimsby. The 1.4 GW project is scheduled to be commissioned in 2022.

Qtum Founder Patrick Dai Confirms that Blockchain Platforms Developers are Working to Increase Network Speed for DeFi Apps – Crowdfund Insider

Posted on October 8, 2020 by Danzig

The developers of Qtum (QTUM), a platform for creating decentralized applications that aims to leverage certain technical aspects related to the security of the Bitcoin (BTC) network while providing smart contract functionality (somewhat similar to Ethereum), have confirmed that the month of September 2020 continued with their Stake-A-Thon program and the Qtum decentralized finance (DeFi) Grant Program.

As covered, Qtum has set aside $5 million to support the development of DeFi apps launched on the Qtum blockchain network. The blockchain developers claim that theyve received several applications already.

They explain in a blog post that Qtum users can create apps on a network offering a high (transactions per second) TPS rate. The Qtum blockchain also has relatively low transaction fees.

Additionally, Qtum provides greater scalability by allowing users to change the parameters of the network without requiring a hard fork (or backwards incompatible upgrade).

The Qtum team further noted that their Offline Staking mainnet Stake-A-Thon had been launched in late August 2020. The Qtum developers claim that the offline staking protocol allows users to have full control of their assets at all times while still having the capability of earning block rewards.

As noted by the Qtum team, users will no longer have to operate a full node to stake their Qtum. They explained that the Stake-A-Thon has 3 ways that people can enter or participate to win. These options include address delegation, super staker, and pool delegation. (Note: for more details on these options, check here.)

As confirmed by the Qtum team, Staked.us has announced support for Qtum Offline Staking and has minted many blocks (of transactions) already. At present, Everstake is leading the Stake Race with more than 1 million QTUM tokens delegated to their Super Staker.

As noted in Qtums September 2020 report, Crypto.com has listed the QTUM token. Its now possible to deposit and withdraw these tokens from the Crypto.com exchange.

Qtums co-founder, Patrick Dai, has also confirmed that the platforms developers are working on a network upgrade in order to increase the speed of block times to cater specifically to Qtums DeFi market.

The Qtum developers further noted:

BitPie, one of [the] largest [Chinese] multi-currency wallets [thats supported with investments from] Chinas Merchant Bank, has added support for all Qtum QRC20 tokens. Bitpies support is warmly welcomed and couldnt have come at a better time for our Chinese community. We expect a nice uptick in the number of QRC20s generated with new DeFi projects on horizon.

(Note: for more details on these updates and other information related to Qtum, check here.)

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Qtum Founder Patrick Dai Confirms that Blockchain Platforms Developers are Working to Increase Network Speed for DeFi Apps - Crowdfund Insider

Blockchain Promised Democratization Of Finance Collaborating With Microfinance Can Make This A Reality – Forbes

Posted on October 8, 2020 by Danzig

By collaborating and working with microfinance organizations, blockchain applications can truly deliver on the promise of democratizing access to financial resources.

2015 Bloomberg Finance LP

Before diving into how blockchain is connected, and can improve, applications such as microfinance, it is important to make sure that the terminology is defined. Even though these ideas have been in existence, have been discussed, and been implemented by organizations across the world, there is still some ambiguity as to what these concepts actually mean.

Microfinancing arrangements can take several different forms, but it is generally designed and implemented to democratize access to financial resources. The specific amount of financing that is provided will, of course, vary depending on the projects being considered and geographic region, but the idea is the same. Providing this financing is not usually done by incumbent financial institutions since these loans are generally speaking not profitable for incumbents, or the individuals/organizations seeking this credit might not qualify for traditional loans.

If that seems a lot like the idea behind blockchain and crypto, that is because the core idea of democratizing access to financial information is common to both ideas.

Even more encouraging is the quantitative evidence, documented by the World Bank and other institutions, that microfinance if implemented correctly does in fact generate economic wealth creation for those participants involved.

Despite this success, however, there are pain points that continue to hinder microfinance initiatives, and prevent the true potential of this concept from being realized. These include, but are not limited to, the high operating costs (compensated through the high rates charged to recipients), slow transaction resolution, lack of transparency and standardization, and the potential for corruption. No single technology tool can address these issues, but blockchain-based applications can certainly help.

Blockchain, with transparency and data integrity lying at the core of the system, is uniquely well positioned to make such arrangements more accessible to wider groups of individuals and organizations. Lets take a look at how a blockchain-based microlending platform can improve and increase accessibility to microfinancing options.

Increased trust and transparency. A core issue whenever there is external financing of ownership concerned is how these various ownership interests are recorded, maintained, and communicated to the marketplace; microfinance is no exception. Especially since many of the recipients of these microloans do not, for any number of reasons, have access to incumbent financial services, establishing and maintaining integrity over this financial information is critical.

An additional benefit of this increased trust and transparency is that, as awareness and access to blockchain-augmented microfinancing increase, the interest rates charged to borrowers should be able to be lowered. This not only reduces the burden on borrowers, enabling more focus on the projects versus making interest payments, but will also help improve the reputation of the industry as a whole.

Digital first identity. To an individual with a U.S.-focused perspective or world view, this might come as a surprise, but the so-called emerging markets have, at least some extent, leapfrogged the U.S. and Western Europe in terms of digital-first payments and identities. This is not to say that every single non-U.S. market is the same, but this bias toward digital payment creates an interesting opportunity as it connects to microfinancing. Put simply, a digital-only or digital-first financing model might actually be better suited to emerging or developing markets than might otherwise be suspected.

In order to succeed in this creation of a digital-first identity, however, the security over this identity must be as strong as possible. Particularly since the rules and regulations toward consumer information and privacy can vary widely from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, a blockchain-based platform can serve an important role as a neutral third-party guarantor of identity security.

Banking the unbanked. This is something that has been said so many times that it runs the risk of becoming a clich, but one of the most prominent underlying goals of blockchain was to democratize access to financial resources and information. Whether that took the form of banking the unbanked, disrupting incumbent financial intermediaries, or some other application, this democratization is not something that can be relegated to the back burner.

Microfinance is the epitome of the attempted democratization of the financial resources and payments system. For all the good that has already been accomplished, there are issues related to costs, transparency, and the potential for bad actors that continue to serve as headwinds to wider and more comprehensive adoption.

Blockchain is not a perfect technology, and has evolved rapidly from the original bitcoin blockchain that attracted so much interested into the space. By collaborating and working with organizations and individuals in the microfinance space, blockchain applications can attain many of the original goals associated with the technology, and democratize the wealth creation process across the globe.

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Blockchain Promised Democratization Of Finance Collaborating With Microfinance Can Make This A Reality - Forbes

Celebrities flock to Las Vegas. It started with this downtown hotel. – Las Vegas Review-Journal

Posted on October 8, 2020 by Danzig

Thanks to its fine dining, clubs and luxury hotels, Las Vegas has been known to attract A-list celebrities.

The citys ties to Hollywood fame date all the way back to the early 1930s.

Back then, celebrities considered the Hotel Apache a property on Fremont Street with fewer than 100 rooms the place to be, whether they were in town to gamble or get a quickie divorce.

The hotel didnt have a five-star spa or headliners like todays megaresorts, but the amenities it did offer air conditioning, electric elevators were unique for its time.

Its an important part of (Las Vegas) history, UNLV history professor Michael Green said.

Decades later, one woman is working to make sure the history of the hotel and its founder is preserved.

Vegas is on the move

Las Vegas was unrecognizable from the sprawling, urban city of lights we know today when the Hotel Apache opened its doors.

The town housed fewer than 6,000 people. Fremont Street, which had been paved just seven years earlier, had fewer buildings the Sal Sagev, now the Golden Gate, among them.

The Hotel Apache was considered one of the first luxury properties, offering guests rare features such as private bathrooms, automatic locks and tall ceilings. While it opened without a casino, gaming equipment was added shortly thereafter.

Robert Stoldal, a member of the Las Vegas Historic Preservation Commission, said it was the hotel of choice for celebrities and the wealthy, and comparable to luxury hotels in larger cities such as New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.

When you walked into those rooms, you felt like you were in something special, he said. The artwork, the furniture, everything was a Western theme, but it wasnt overwhelming you. There was a lot of detail that went into not only the (overall) architecture but the architecture of each room.

The Apache Hotel gave guests a sense that big things were happening in little Las Vegas, Green said.

By God, Las Vegas is on the move, folks. That was the sense, he said. Its sort of a sign of the growth of the area and the success, or the expected success, of the community and legal gambling.

Gina Silvagni Perry, the granddaughter of the hotels founder, Pietro Ottavio P.O. Silvagni, said the hotel helped put Las Vegas on the map, and eventually became a common stomping ground for celebrities including Clark Gable and Lucille Ball.

It was the nicest place in town, Perry said. It brought a light on this town. It made it more than a red-light district and a train stop. I think (P.O.) had a huge part of making our town become the hospitality city that it is and the entertainment capital of the world.

Lost in time

Las Vegas history, and her grandfather, mean a lot to Perry. Thats why shes doing her best to make sure theyre presented accurately.

Silvagni, a native of Italy, immigrated to the U.S. in 1905. He worked in Colorado and Utah before packing up his bags to look for subcontractor work on the Boulder Dam project at age 60.

Silvagni discovered a region rife with opportunity.

Thousands of men had moved to Southern Nevada to work on the dam, a boon for the region. The state also made some major changes in 1931 that spurred growth: legalizing gambling and allowing quickie divorces to those who established a six-week residency in the state, the shortest waiting period in the country.

All those things started to bring a lot of attention and bring more people into the town. But he saw there was no place to go and have fun, Perry said. He had a vision. He wanted to build a place for people to have fun, a nice place, and he wanted it to be the nicest place on the Arrowhead Trail, the first all-weather road from Salt Lake City to Los Angeles that ran straight through Las Vegas.

There were a lot of people thinking it this was a good place to invest, but (Silvagni) was the one that did it, Stoldal added. It lived up to its reputation. When you stayed at the Apache, you were not disappointed. One Hollywood star would tell another and its reputation continued to build as a place to be in the 1930s.

Parts of the property have been leased out to various operators since it opened in 1932.

Benny Binion leased the property in 1951. Several years later, it was leased to Joe Brown a fellow gambler and friend of Binions after Binion was incarcerated for tax evasion. In 1973, the Binion name returned to the property after the Silvagni family signed a long-term lease with Jack and Ted Binion, Bennys sons.

The remaining Silvagni family doesnt operate the property but acts as landlords.

The Great Recession led to the propertys hotel closing in 2009, though the casino and other amenities remained open. The Hotel Apache reopened in 2019 after major renovations.

In spite of its long legacy in Las Vegas, its founders name is often unrecognized. UNLV gaming historian David Schwartz said the buildings location may play a role.

It wasnt on the Strip. It didnt have the notoriety, he said.

Green agreed that there have been many more notable hotels built since 1932, many of them larger, more prominent and with more mob connections, making for a juicer story.

Biases against Italian immigrants may also have played a role in the Silvagni name fading over time, he said. But Green believes Silvagni played a very important role in Las Vegas history.

He accomplished something in his time, Green said. P.O. deserves a lot of attention.

Perry is working on a book to give her grandfather just that. She said the countless hours of research shes put into the project has made her feel closer to her grandfather, who died when she was 4 years old.

Before, she had only hazy memories of her grandfather his constant cigar smoking, his love of three-piece suits and his buongiorno greetings.

I feel a very close bond with this man that I didnt get to spend that much time with, she said. I think some of the things I am are because of him the will to succeed and accomplish.

Perry hopes to release a book on her grandfather next year.

The history is getting lost. Its going away, she said. I want to preserve it.

Contact Bailey Schulz at bschulz@reviewjournal.com. Follow @bailey_schulz on Twitter.

Derek Carr hoping to turn frustration into progess – Las Vegas Review-Journal

Posted on October 8, 2020 by Danzig

After the Raiders fell to 2-2 with a home loss against Buffalo on Sunday, Derek Carr expressed growing frustration with the mounting losses the team has suffered since he became quarterback.

The 29-year-old understands the challenge now is to find a way to turn that frustration into positive development.

Carr said a team meeting Monday started that process. Several players not only took ownership of the mistakes they were making, but outlined plans to fix them.

When you do that, at least it gives you a chance to do things the right way, Carr said. Ive been on some teams here in the past where there was none of that and it just went haywire.

The seventh-year pro credited coach Jon Gruden with setting a high standard. He said players feel they must own up to what they need to do better individually to help the team improve.

Coach does a really good job with accountability, Carr said. I think thats the word that it comes down to for everybody. Holding yourself to a certain standard. And when you dont meet that standard, just owning it. Saying Hey man I didnt meet that standard.

The words will be put to the test on Sunday when the Raiders go to Kansas City to face the defending Super Bowl champion and undefeated Chiefs.

Sticking to the routine

While there are many moving pieces in regard to the rash of positive COVID-19 cases around the league, Carr is trying to block out the possibility of games being postponed or rescheduled.

I have my weekly process, he said. Im very much into my schedule. Im going to do my process. Im going to do my weekly routine how I would normally do it. Then if things change, Ill adapt.

Youve got to make sure you stay with your process and whats helped you have success.

The Raiders had one positive case this week. as Maurice Hurst went on the Reserve/COVID-19 list. Kansas City also had a positive test from a practice squad player. The Chiefs also are awaiting any potential fallout from playing a Patriots team that has had multiple positives.

Tennessees outbreak has its game against Buffalo in question for this week.

Injury report

Maliek Collins did not practice Wednesday due to a shoulder he injured in Sundays loss to the Bills. He also has an undisclosed illness.

Wide receiver Bryan Edwards remained out Wednesday with foot and ankle injuries. Veterans Rodney Hudson and Jason Witten both had rest days.

Defensive tackle Johnathan Hankins was limited by an eye issue and receiver Rico Gafford returned to practice, but was limited as he recovers from a hamstring injury. Tight end Darren Waller was limited with a knee injury.

Flag on the play

The Raiders came away from Sundays loss to Buffalo lamenting several key penalties that cost them in critical portions of the game.

Las Vegas was flagged seven times for 66 yards during a week where flags were uncommonly rare.

Week 4 in the NFL saw 10.26 accepted penalties per game, the second-fewest in any week since 2010.

The only week with fewer penalties per game over that span was Week 17 of 2013 when there were 9.63 penalties per game.

Penalties are down overall this season. Through the first three weeks of the season, NFL games averaged 13.65 penalties. Thats down from 18.54 per game last season.

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on Twitter.

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Derek Carr hoping to turn frustration into progess - Las Vegas Review-Journal

Las Vegas police need help to identify persons of interest in MGM shooting – KTNV Las Vegas

Posted on October 8, 2020 by Danzig

LAS VEGAS (KTNV) On Oct. 2 at 2:38 a.m., Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department patrol officers were notified of a shooting inside of MGM Grand hotel-casino. Hotel security gave the arriving officers the handgun used in the shooting. The investigation initiated by the LVMPD Gang Detectives determined a group of people had been involved in an argument inside of the casino.

Two individuals broke away from the group and walked towards the elevators, where one of them pulled out a handgun.

Another patron of the resort noticed the armed man and attempted to disarm him. Police say as they struggled over the weapon one round was fired and the handgun was dropped.

The patron picked up the handgun and turned it over to an arriving security officer as the person who had the gun and the second male fled from the area.

The man is described as a Black male, thin build, 6-feet tall, last seen wearing a dark shirt, baseball hat, whitewashed pants, and white shoes.

Detectives are also seeking to identify a person of interest who accompanied the man. He is described as a Black male, thin build, approximately 5-feet 8-inches tall, dreadlock hair in a ponytail with colored tips, goatee and was last seen wearing a light-colored shirt and blue jeans with white shoes.

Anyone with any information about this incident is urged to contact the LVMPD Gang Crimes Section by phone at 702-828-7826.

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