Moorings

MTNW Supports Frontier Drilling

Measurement Technology NW (MTNW) has recently completed a contract to provide installation, calibration and commissioning on an eight-point mooring monitoring system for Frontier’s drill ship, Duchess, off the coast of Nigeria. The new running line tensiometer and LCI-90 mooring monitoring system provides visibility into line tensions which will support mooring and rig movement monitoring. The Duchess is a 475 ft by 75 ft vessel which needs to stay centered over an offshore oil-well for months on end despite sea states and drilling activity. The MTNW Line Control Instrument (LCI) Mooring Solution allows the rig manager to keep rig positioning to within a very small tolerance for lateral movement. The goal for most rig managers is to maintain movement to within a 12 inch circle while drilling activity occurs. This is a .2% margin for error. “Without knowing exactly where your anchors are and the tension in your mooring lines, the rig manager can’t accurately position the ship,” said Tom Rezanka, Director of the LCI division of MTNW. “With subsea pipelines crisscrossing the bottom of the ocean and dynamic sea states, mooring line monitoring becomes a necessary part of rig management for personnel and property safety.” In a traditional mooring setup, if problems occur, the vessel operator will notice a sudden change in position and will attempt to rectify the situation before the ship drifts too far breaking the drill column

Cargotec Secures Vietnamese Pipelayer with Mooring Solutions

A contract for mooring equipment for a pipelaying barge marks Cargotec’s successful entry to the Vietnamese offshore market. In July this year, Cargotec won a contract from the joint stock company Vinh Nam (VAM JSC)/TECMACH  to supply mooring equipment outfits for Vietsovpetro’s 110m-long by 30.5m-breadth pipelaying crane barge, Con Son. The 1969-built vessel is currently undergoing a conversion at Dung Quat Shipbuilding Industry Co Ltd.

Aker Kvaerner to Deliver Mooring Equipment to Daewoo

Aker Kvaerner has been awarded a contract with Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. Ltd in South Korea for delivery of mooring equipment. The total contract value for Aker Kvaerner is approximately NOK 60 million. The contract involves supply of mooring equipment for two semi-submersible drilling rigs to be built at Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. Ltd for the Norwegian rig owner SeaDrill. Four sets of double mooring winches and eigth underwater fairleads will be

GL Noble Denton Guidelines: Float-Over Installations, Moorings

GL Noble Denton has issued new guidelines for float-over installations and for moorings. They are now available for oil and gas companies, designers and contractors and describe current “industry good practice” which help oil and gas companies to have their mooring systems or float-over operations approved by GL Noble Denton. An approval by GL Noble Denton may be a requirement of an insurance warranty or to ensure that operational risks are as low as possible.

BC Ferries Completes Investigation

BC Ferries has completed an internal investigation into the April 3 incident, in which unusually strong northwest winds caused Queen of Cowichan to break from its mooring lines at Departure Bay and drift on to an adjacent dock. Queen of Cowichan, which was moored at the outside terminal berth, broke its mooring lines at about 3:30 a.m., twisted free of the dock and went adrift, resulting in minor damage to the berth and an adjacent dock, and virtually no damage to the vessel.

Structural Integrity NDT Test for Deepwater Fiber Rope Connectors

First Subsea is using innovative non-destructive testing (NDT) technology to inspect the quality of forgings used in the new range of LankoFirst fiber rope connectors for deepwater moorings. Process Compensated Resonance Testing (PCRT) undertaken by Vibrant NDT Ltd is reportedly the only NDT technology to correlate to the structural integrity of the inspected component. The LankoFirst fiber rope mooring connector is designed to revolutionize the ease with which deepwater fiber mooring

Mooring Inspection is Critical for Ageing Assets, says Welaptega

Failures of mooring systems in offshore floating production are not easy to predict, but they do occur, and they will happen more often as infrastructure nears the end of design life. “It is mission critical that we do the detective work up front on these ageing systems,” according to Tony Hall, CEO of Welaptega Marine. “It’s imperative that we identify any phenomenon that could put a facility at risk of failure.”  

Petrobras Awards Lankhorst Ropes Dyneema Deepwater Mooring Line Contract

Leading deepwater rope manufacturer, Lankhorst Ropes, has secured the first-ever, worldwide order for Dyneema synthetic mooring rope for deepwater MODU (Mobile Operating Drilling Unit) projects from Brazilian oil and gas producer Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras). Gama 98 is a rope construction developed by Lankhorst Ropes specifically for deepwater mooring, and used on a number of major deepwater projects in the Gulf of Mexico. The rope will feature up to 12 Dyneema SK78 yarn sub-ropes

Aker Solutions Enters Brazilian Installation Market

Aker Solutions has signed a contract with Maersk FPSOs to perform mooring installation work at the offshore Brazil Peregrino field. The contract is the first marine installation job for Aker Solutions in Brazil and marks the start-up of the company's marine operations unit in the country. The work involves planning and installation of an APL submerged turret production (STP) buoy, which will be moored in approximately 100-m water depth using ten mooring lines with 90-ton piles

NTSB Issues Report on Construction Barge Fire

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) issued the report of its investigation into the fatal explosion and fire on an uninspected construction barge on October 12, 2006 on West Cote Blanche Bay, La. The incident resulted from the unexpected release of a mooring spud. Two construction barges were being pushed by a towboat across the bay. One of the raised mooring spuds on one of the barges suddenly dropped (possibly due to a failure of the winch brake mechanism)