Blue Tarpon News

Baker Hughes announced that its subsidiary has chartered a new state-of-the-art pressure pumping vessel that will provide offshore stimulation services to Maersk Oil in the North Sea. Upon completion, scheduled for late 2013, the Blue Orca™ will become the eighth vessel in the Baker Hughes fleet. The Blue Orca will be rated to 15,000 psi and will offer among the largest fluid and proppant carrying capacities in the world. It will provide 15,000 hydraulic horsepower pumping capacity and the ability to pump at rates well in excess of 60 bpm. Engineering work on the marine and stimulation systems has already begun. "Stimulation of long horizontal wells is one of Maersk Oil's key technologies and vital for economic development of our tight chalk reservoirs…

Seattle-based Elliott Bay Design Group, through its New Orleans office, was selected by Baker Hughes to provide the owner's design of the Blue Tarpon a state-of-the-art well stimulation vessel. EBDG was contracted to integrate Baker Hughes' stimulation equipment into a hull under construction at North American Shipbuilding in Larose, LA. The Blue Tarpon was delivered in Houston on June 9. Working with Baker Hughes, EBDG's team designed the vessel to provide high-rate and high-volume stimulation treatments for demanding offshore operations.