Subsea Support News

The specialized deepwater oil & gas and floating offshore wind segments will share many of the same stakeholders and supply chains, competing for increasingly scarce resources.To receive a full version of Inteletus analysis, click hereThe established floating production segment is forecast to experience continued growth through this decade, driving demand for, among other things, moorings, subsea systems, umbilicals, risers, flowlines and the large anchor handlers and subsea support vessels that will install and maintain the elements.At the same time…

Wagenborg Offshore has taken delivery of the Kingsborg subsea support vessel.Kingsborg is a subsea support vessel, converted from a platform supply vessel, that will support subsea activities and decommissioning works in the southern North Sea in a long-term agreement with an energy major, Wagenborg said, without sharing the name of the client."After the positive experiences with the W2W vessels Kasteelborg and Keizersborg, Wagenborg has once again opted to convert a standard Platform Supply Vessel into this specialist offshore vessel.

Britoil Offshore Services said this week it had acquired 30 offshore service vessels and supporting offices in Singapore from Dutch shipping firm Vroon."The acquisition will see an expansion of Britoil’s operating footprint into the Mediterranean, the North Sea and Asia Pacific. The operations will also synergise in the Middle East and Africa," Britoil said.The 30 vessels and supporting offices were part of Vroon’s offshore services business. Earlier this year, Vroon announced it would sell these vessels as part of a strategic reorientation.

The Norwegian offshore vessel owner Golden Energy Offshore Services AS (“GEOS”) said Wednedsay it had entered into a memorandum of agreement (the “MoA”) with an undisclosed buyer for the sale of the subsea support vessel VOS Sugar.The VOS Sugar is one of the Vroon Offshore vessels GEOS agreed to buy last month, a purchase which is in the process of completing. The MoA is subject to satisfactory vessel inspection by the buyer. Provided that the subject is lifted, the sale is expected to be completed in November 2023. "The agreed sales price in the MoA is EUR 15 million and when completed would represent a substantial cash profit to the company relative to the acquisition cost of USD 9.4 million in the [Vroon fleet acquisition]…

Maersk Supply Service has secured a contract extension in Angola for its Subsea Support Vessel Maersk Involver for an additional 15 months.The Danish vessel owner said Monday that under the extended contract, the vessel and crew would support various subsea operations off the coast of Angola.

UK-based Submarine Manufacturing and Products (SMP) will provide its new submarine rescue system (SRS) to the Indonesian Navy.The SRS will be hosted on a mothership designed by independent design and engineering consultancy Houlder and delivered by its Indonesian strategic partner, BTI Defence.The three-year build contract will include the UK design and manufacture of the SRS, centered around SMP's new SRV-F Mk3 rescue submersible. The custom build of the mothership will take place in region…

Norwegian offshore vessel operator Golden Energy Offshore Services (GEOS) has entered into a binding Memorandum of Agreement for the acquisition of four platform supply vessels and one subsea support vessel from subsidiaries of Vroon Holding B.V. for a total consideration of $94 million.Dutch vessel owner Vroon earlier this year completed the implementation of the financial restructuring for the “new” Vroon focusing on specialized fleet of deepsea vessels (livestock carriers, product tankers, and high-heat tankers) and emergency response and rescue vessels (ERRV). As part of the restructuring, the majority ownership of Vroon has transferred to the company lenders…

Oslo-listed subsea services provider Reach Subsea said Wednesday it had won a decommissioning contract in the North Sea. The contract is with an undisclosed client, and represents around 40 project days for execution in Q1 2023. Reach Subsea will use the Olympic Delta vessel for the project. Financial details were not disclosed.Olympic Delta is a subsea vessel equipped for light IMR and survey work for both the oil and gas and renewables sectors.Reach Subsea has an existing cooperation with Olympic Subsea for Olympic Delta, and the parties have agreed to extend the cooperation for the whole of 2023. Currently, the extended cooperation comprises an additional 150 days of firm work for the two ROVs currently mobilized on the vessel.

U.S. oil major ExxonMobil has chartered the Subsea Support Vessel (SSV) Maersk Nomad for a minimum one-year contract, supporting its field development activities offshore Guyana.Maersk Nomad will be operating with two ROVs onboard, providing general and subsea support scopes for ExxonMobil’s six ultra-deepwater drillships currently operating offshore Guyana in the Stabroek Block. The first charter is expected to start in mid-November 2022, out of Georgetown, Guyana.ExxonMobil…

AD Ports Group's subsidiary SAFEEN has acquired a support vessel to boost the company's subsea service capabilities.Built in 2014, the vessel, previously known as the Nordic Prince, will operate under the name ‘SAFEEN Surveyor’ and will undergo an extensive conversion prior to starting operations, including the installation of an integrated dive system to support pipeline repair and maintenance."The vessel has a successful track record in projects in the Middle East, where it has provided a range of support services including subsea inspection…

ROV services firm Rovco has chartered the VOS Star vessel from owners to support the delivery of its offshore wind farm projects. The 68m long DP2 multi-purpose support vessel will support Rovco’s increasing number of secured offshore wind campaigns throughout 2022, including the provision of hydrographic survey solutions on operational offshore wind farms in UK and Dutch waters.On the vessel, Rovco will mobilize a dedicated and experienced offshore team, to operate its Seaeye Leopard Work Class ROV systems…

Danish offshore vessel owner Maersk Supply Service said Wednesday it had won a long-term contract with ExxonMobil in Angola.The contract is for the provision of project management, engineering, and marine services in support of the development of offshore drilling and production operations offshore Angola in the Block 15.Maersk Supply Service subsea support vessel Maersk Forza will perform the offshore marine operations, including offshore field maintenance support, deep-water AHC precision lifting, and ROV operations for the installation of subsea and other marine equipment.

Inmarsat, the mobile satellite communications provider, has extended its Fleet Xpress service agreement with offshore vessel owner Maersk Supply Service. The extension includes fleet-wide IoT-based ship management connectivity on separate, dedicated bandwidths. The extension has also enabled Maersk Supply Service to evaluate new vessel performance tools for selection, available through Inmarsat’s Certified Application Provider (CAP) program.Operating off Europe, the Americas, West Africa…

Danish offshore vessel operator Maersk Supply Service has secured a one-year contract extension for one of its subsea support vessels in Angola.In a social media post on Monday, Maersk Supply Service said it would provide the full scope IRM services for an undisclosed oil major in Angola, supported by one of the company's I-class subsea support vessels.In addition, the contract covers an integrated package of FSV, 2 WROV + Positioning Services as well as project management and engineering services.Osvaldo Sechie, Managing Director, Angola said the contract win gave the company an extended footprint in Angola, a longer-term contract with a valued customer, and ability to continue with the company's local content development plan through its  Cadets program.

Norwegian subsea support vessel operator said DOF Subsea said Monday it had won several contracts awards in the Asia Pacific region.According to DOF Subsea, the contracts provide "significant" utilization for resources and vessels in Q3 and Q4 2021 and secure a "solid" backlog into the first half of 2022. "Onshore works are underway for several offshore campaigns that will utilize the CSV Skandi Hercules and the onshore and offshore teams from Q3 2021 into Q1 2022," DOF Subsea…

Canadian offshore services company Horizon Maritime has signed on to support a dive mission to explore the wreck of the Titanic.OceanGate Expeditions, the crewed submersible exploration company leading the mission, selected the multipurpose offshore support vessel (OSV) Horizon Arctic to serve as the surface support vessel for the expedition scheduled to take place later this year.The RMS Titanic shipwreck lies approximately 2,500 feet below the ocean's surface, about 370 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.

Keeping track of personnel on board (POB) “will be a requirement on all contracts” with offshore energy companies, predicted Tonny Sørdal, vice-president for quality, safety, health and environment of support vessel operator Olympic Subsea ASA.He was speaking just a year after one of its customers first asked for that capability and now, seven of the company’s 10 vessels have been fitted with a system that not only tracks crew and contractors while they are on board, but also as they transfer from the vessel to wind turbines and even within the turbine itself.

While facing the same challenging market conditions as offshore vessel owners and service companies worldwide, Norway’s Island Offshore recently broke free from the enforced conservatism of the E&P sector, by adding not just a new ship to its fleet, but one that re-writes the rulebook in capabilities, technology and despite its size and power, environmental credentials.Simply put, Island Offshore’s new deep water installation Vessel ‘Island Victory’ is the most powerful multi-purpose offshore vessel ever built…

Japanese shipping major Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) has unveiled a number of new restructuring measures effective April 1, 2020.According to a press release, the  marine transportation provider intends to establish three new divisions and integrate its two tanker divisions to achieve synergy.MOL will establish the Offshore Gas Project Division as an organization focused on businesses related to the LNG field in energy value chains (FSRU projects, LNG bunker vessel project, etc.) to accelerate the enhancement of the offshore business, in which the company is concentrating the investment of management resources, as set out in Rolling Plan 2019.The Offshore Project Division shall have specific responsibilities in crude oil fields such as FPSO projects…

Norwegian shipping company GC Rieber Shipping ASA had a fleet utilization of 100% in the second quarter of 2019.The operator of offshore subsea support vessels, marine seismic vessels and polar logistics and research expeditions said that the subsea and ice/support vessels have contract coverage of 44% for the remainder of the year while Shearwater GeoServices Shearwater has confirmed backlog of more than 26 vessel-months in the third and fourth quarter of 2019 following the award of multiple seismic acquisition contracts.GC Rieber Shipping had operating income of NOK 91.9 million in the second quarter of 2019, compared with NOK 60.7 million in the corresponding period 2018. EBITDA was NOK 41.3 million, compared with NOK 9.3 million in the second quarter of 2018.

Norwegian offshore shipping company GC Rieber Shipping (RISH) has agreed with Nexans Skagerrak AS, a wholly owned subsidiary of Nexans Norway AS, to enter into a ship management agreement for the cable laying vessel Nexans Skagerrak.The agreement also includes management of the Nexans’ state of the art cable laying vessel Nexans Aurora once it gets delivered from Ulstein yard in 2021, said the operator of offshore subsea support vessels, marine seismic vessels and polar logistics and research expeditions.The agreement is expected to be executed in Q3 2019 and hand over of the vessel to RISH to take place in September 2019.The addition of these two vessels grows RISH fleet of specialized vessels, managed on behalf of third-party owners, from six to eight.

Maersk Supply Service has signed a three-year contract extension with Inmarsat for its new dedicated bandwidth service Fleet Xpress, including a a dedicated bandwidth charterer service agreement.The Danish company, which has a fleet of 40 anchor handlers, subsea support vessels and platform supply vessels deployed in Europe, the Americas, West Africa, South East Asia and Australia, is also an advocate for digital solutions that use data to optimize vessel operations, recently adopting a new energy advisory system in support of an initial target to reduce fuel consumption by 5% by 2020.Eric Griffin, VP of Offshore Energy, Inmarsat Maritime…

Norwegian shipping company GC Rieber Shipping has completed the process of redelivery and sale of the icebreaking research vessel 'Ernest Shackleton' to the new owner Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale (OGS).The redelivery of the vessel from British Antarctic Survey (BAS) marked the end of a nearly 20-year relationship between British Antarctic Survey and GC Rieber Shipping, said a press release from the operator of offshore subsea support vessels, marine seismic vessels and polar logistics and research expeditions.Ernest Shackleton was developed by GC Rieber Shipping based on decades of icebreaker experience and built at Kværner Kleven Leirvik in Norway in 1995.The vessel…