Central North Sea News

Van Oord has completed the installation of all monopile foundations at RWE’s Sofia offshore wind farm, marking a major milestone in the construction of one of world’s largest wind farms.To execute the works, Van Oord deployed offshore wind installation vessel Aeolus, renowned for its capabilities in complex offshore wind operations.The 1.4 GW Sofia offshore wind farm, located on Dogger Bank in the central North Sea, will generate enough renewable energy to power approximately 1.2 million average U.K.

Retrofit specialist GLO Marine has secured hydraulic system upgrade job on Bluewater’s Haewene Brim floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) unit, following the successful delivery of the project’s first phase.The contract builds on the collaboration between GLO Marine and Bluewater in  Phase 1 of the FPSO upgrade program, where GLO Marine delivered the full feasibility and engineering scope, including detailed technical analysis, prototype validation, and a complete set of engineering deliverables.Aa part of the second phase…

Esgian highlights several new contracts in its Week 39 Rig Analytics Market Roundup.Report SummaryContractsMarket sources indicate that ADNOC has exercised an extension option for the 350-ft jackup drilling rig Aryabhatt 1 in Abu Dhabi.Petrobras has awarded two floating rig contracts to Constellation Oil Services for work at the Roncador field in the Campos Basin offshore Brazil. Valued at $1 billion, the two contracts will see Constellation 10,000-ft drillship Laguna Star and Hanwha Drilling 12,000-ft newbuild Tidal Action operate for Petrobras for around 2.5 years.

Van Oord’s offshore installation vessel Aeolus has installed the first monopile foundation at RWE’s Sofia Offshore Wind Farm, located on Dogger Bank in the central North Sea.With a capacity of 1.4 GW, Sofia is RWE’s largest offshore wind farm to date. After its expected commissioning in 2026, the project will be capable of generating enough electricity to power the equivalent of 1.2 million typical UK homes.Following the installation of the essential subsea cable infrastructure…

Esgian reports another busy week filled with a variety of updates, including new offshore acreage offered in the UK, Norway and Nigeria, in its Week 19 Rig Analytics Market Roundup.Report SummaryContractsADES Holding Company has received a direct award of a contract from Suez Oil Company (SUCO) in Egypt. The SUCO award in Egypt’s Gulf of Suez is for a firm 21-month term expected to start in the coming weeks.Noble 492-ft jackup Noble Innovator has been awarded a one-well extension with bp in UK waters at a dayrate of $145…

Esgian reports that new drilling contracts have been announced in the North Sea and West Africa in its Week 17 Rig Analytics Market Roundup.Report SummaryContractsShelf Drilling (North Sea) has secured a letter of award with an unnamed operator, believed to be TotalEnergies, for the 400-ft jackup Shelf Drilling Fortress for a campaign in the North Sea.Noble 12,000-ft 7th generation drillship Noble Venturer has secured new contracts in West Africa with Trident Energy and Rhino Resources…

Esgian reports on the many rig movements that occurred last week in its Week 16 Rig Analytics Market Roundup.Report SummaryContractsADES Holding Company has received a letter of award from an international oil company for a one-year firm drilling contract for a jackup offshore Qatar.TotalEnergies has exercised a three-well option for Transocean 12,000-ft drillship Deepwater Skyros offshore Angola at a rate of $400,000, keeping the rig working into December 2025.After initially beginning a short-term job in the US GOM in January 2024…

Norwegian oil company Aker BP has restored production at Alvheim field, causing an oil spill during the process of starting up the production vessel located in the central North Sea. The downtime resulted from a malfunction in new equipment installed during maintenance activities in the previous quarter, causing a deferral of approximately one month in the production from the Alvheim area, Aker BP said. The oil spill from the Alvheim production vessel on November 29 occurred in connection with starting up the field following an unplanned production shutdown, where one well was producing.

Esgian has published its Week 49 Rig Market Roundup highlighting new drilling activity in the North Sea and a new licensing deal in Morocco.Drilling Activity and DiscoveriesSerica Energy is continuing with plans for its four-well drilling campaign in the UK North Sea, scheduled for 2024 and early 2025. The campaign will be carried out using the semisubmersible COSLInnovator. All four wells are production wells. The first well in the campaign will be a sidetrack of an existing well (B1z) on the Bittern field.

The UK Offshore Wind and Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) Colocation Forum, set up to provide strategic coordination of colocation research and activity on the nation’s seabed, has commissioned two research projects. The projects are designed to inform the best approach to test and demonstrate the colocation of offshore wind and CCS activities in the future.To achieve the UK’s net zero targets, the UK Government is targeting the delivery of 50 gigawatts of offshore wind energy and the capture of 20-30 million tons of CO2 per year by 2030.

N-Sea Group has chartered Braveheart Marine's DP2 vessel Braveheart Spirit multi-purpose offshore vessel.The vessel formerly known as the DPSV Bourbon Gulf Star vessel, built in 2010, was acquired late last year by Braveheart Marine converted, and upgraded to meet the most up-to-date industry standards. N-Sea said it has taken the vessel on a long-term charter.The DP2 vessel has a carrying capacity of around 3,000t DWT, an overall length (LOA) of 73.2 meters, 16.5 meters in width…

Dutch offshore installation company Van Oord on Thursday confirmed it had secured a contract to deliver and install monopile foundations and array cables for RWE's 1.4 GW Sofia offshore wind farm in the UK.The contract comes a little over a week after RWE made a financial investment decision for the Sofia offshore wind farm, located the Dogger Bank in the central North Sea, 195 kilometers from the North East coast of the UK. "Through its UK branch MPI Offshore, Van Oord will create a logistics hub to deliver the comprehensive scope of work…

MARIN and Royal IHC completed the dynamic positioning (DP) assessment tests for the autonomous-enabled T60-18 service operation vessel (SOV) at MARIN’s basins in Wageningen, The Netherlands.For the project, which is part-funded by a subsidy from TKI Wind Op Zee, shipbuilder IHC has developed technology that will allow one of its SOVs to navigate safely through an offshore wind farm and provide access to the turbines. The operations will be executed by the vessel’s autonomous software while under the supervision of the duty officer at the wheelhouse.Following the powering and seakeeping tests…

Total has made a hydrocarbon discovery at the Isabella exploration well in the UK Central North Sea, Neptune Energy, Total's partner in the project has informed.Neptune Energy has described Isabella as "an encouraging hydrocarbon discovery" which encountered hydrocarbons in Upper Jurassic and Triassic sandstone reservoirs, with 64 meters net pay encountered, consisting of lean gas and condensate and high-quality light oil."The results of the well will be analyzed to further evaluate the discovery, determine future appraisal activity and recoverable resources estimates.

Aberdeen-based Oil and gas company Dana Petroleum has awarded Norway's Ocean Installer a contract for work at the Triton Area Development, located in the Central North Sea, around 190 km east of Aberdeen.According to a press release, the award, which is Ocean Installer’s first with Dana, involves the installation and trenching of a 12” Flexible Production Flowline at the Guillemot field.The project will be executed by Ocean Installer’s office in Aberdeen, with engineering work beginning immediately and offshore operations scheduled for Q2 2020. The construction support vessel Viking Neptun will be utilized for the offshore work.“We are delighted to have been awarded this contract and to continue building upon our track record in the UK.

A BP drilling rig heading to an oilfield in the British North Sea has been forced to turn away twice over the past two days as a Greenpeace vessel protesting climate change tries to hamper its progress.The high-sea chase is the latest step in Greenpeace's nine-day effort to stop the 40,000 tonne Paul Loyd JNR rig from reaching the Vorlich oilfield to start its drilling campaign.The vessel left Cromarty Firth, north of Inverness, Scotland on Friday after police twice removed activists…

Norwegian subsea operating company DOF Subsea has been awarded three new contracts in the North Sea.The first of these contracts will see DOF Subsea undertake a workscope in the Norwegian North Sea involving subsea construction support and pre-commissioning operations from the Geosund during December 2018.In addition, the company has been awarded a contract for the initial phase of a decommissioning programme in the central North Sea for a U.K. operator, said a press release from the company.Under this contract DOF Subsea will provide construction support services for activities relating to the permanent disconnection and removal of an FPSO.

Serica Energy said that efforts to remove gas hydrates in pipeline between Erskine and the Lomond platform had been successful and it  has resumed production for the first time since January." Production from Erskine has restarted and flow rates are being optimised. Further updates will be provided once the re-commissioning process is complete," said a press note from the company.Erskine, in which Serica holds an 18% interest, was suspended in mid-January due to a blocked export pipeline which carried condensate from Erskine to the neighbouring Lomond platform. A new 26 kilometres long section of the line was completed in September.Serica Energy is an oil and gas exploration and production company with exploration…

BW Offshore, a leading global provider of floating production services to the oil and gas industry, announced the sail away of the FPSO BW Catcher. The vessel has left Keppel Shipyard in Singapore and is currently in transit to the Catcher field in the central North Sea. BW Catcher is expected to reach UK waters early in the fourth quarter, depending on prevailing weather conditions. Upon its arrival, BW Catcher will commence a seven-year fixed term contract, with extension options of up to 18 years, with Premier Oil. Based on a field life of 10 years, the contract value is USD 2.3 billion including FPSO charter rate and opex. "The BW Catcher has been completed on time and within budget, and we are especially pleased with the good HSE performance during the construction project.

BW Offshore’s Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading vessel (FPSO) BW Catcher has left deep water anchorage off the Keppel Shipyard in Singapore and is currently in transit on a 45-day journey to the Catcher field in the central North Sea where it will go to work for Premier Oil. The FPSO is expected to reach U.K. waters early in the fourth quarter, depending on prevailing weather conditions. Upon its arrival, BW Catcher will commence a seven-year fixed term contract, with extension options of up to 18 years, with Premier Oil. Carl K. Arnet, CEO of BW Offshore, said, “The BW Catcher has been completed on time and within budget, and we are especially pleased with the good HSE performance during the construction project.

Perenco appointed Bibby Offshore to perform subsea integrity inspections and maintenance works on the Inde Joint pipeline, which runs to the Bacton Gas Terminal in the Southern North Sea. Completed in early July, the 15-day workscope saw Bibby Offshore install a total of 94 concrete mattresses over the pipeline to assist in preserving the remaining rock dump mounds. The second workscope, completed in late July, saw Endeavour Energy UK contract Bibby Offshore to carry out subsea tree inspections in the Renee and Rubie fields located in blocks 15/27 and 15/28 of the Central North Sea.

Emergency Response and Rescue Vessel (ERRV) operator Atlantic Offshore Scotland Ltd, has secured a two-year firm charter with Maersk Oil UK. The company’s ERRV Ocean Troll, will provide Emergency Response and Rescue services for Maersk Oil’s Culzean project in the central North Sea. The Charter is the first Fire Fighting Class II (Fi-Fi II) ERRV to have operated in the UK sector. The charter commenced in July 2017 and will last for a firm period of two years, with two, one-year options thereafter.

Offshore driller Stena Drilling has signed a contract with Nexen Petroleum U.K. Limited for the Stena Spey drilling rig.    Stena said  in a press release that the drilling campaign will last around 110 days with a potential additional option well on the Golden Eagle field, UK Central North Sea.   The drilling campaign will commence on completion of the current well with Repsol-Sinopec.   "Stena Drilling is very pleased to be working with Nexen Petroleum U.K. Limited and this workscope presents another exciting new opportunity for the Stena Spey and the crews," said a statement.   The Stena Spey is a Friede & Goldman L907 (enhanced Pacesetter) twin pontoon, column stabilised self propelled, semi submersible offshore drilling unit.