East Irish Sea News

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.

Dutch Damen Shipyards Group has delivered a Fast Crew Supplier (FCS) 1605 to offshore installation firm Allseas to support its Pioneering Spirit vessel, the largest offshore construction vessel in the world.The FCS 1605 vessel will perform fast crew and personnel transfers to and from the Pioneering Spirit. Damen secured the contract for the vessel, named Ricochet, on March 15. "The delivery was fast as a result of Damen’s practice of building its vessels in series for stock. When Allseas placed its order with Damen, the FCS 1605 was already built.

Offshore services firm Allseas said Wednesday it had removed the former DP3 gas production topsides from Spirit Energy’s Morecambe Bay development in the East Irish Sea, using the giant Pioneering Spirit vessel.This follows the removal of the adjacent DP4 topsides and subsequent transport to the UK in April. The two normally unmanned installations used to produce gas as part of Spirit Energy’s complex of eight installations in Morecambe Bay. As the field has matured, the reserves the platforms previously tapped into have been produced by the larger…

Allseas' giant heavy lift vessel Pioneering Spirit will remove the DP3 and DP4 platforms in Morecambe Bay off the U.K. for independent oil and gas operator Spirit Energy.The two normally unmanned installations used to produce gas as part of Spirit Energy’s complex of eight installations in Morecambe Bay. As the field has matured, the reserves the platforms previously tapped into have been produced by the larger, manned Central Morecambe platform nearby.The 12 wells that were connected…

PD&MS Group secured a trio of contracts worth more than $14 million across three major North Sea late-life projects in the last six months. The latest award for the Aberdeen-headquartered company is a multimillion-pound contract from Spirit Energy to decommission the topsides on two of its unmanned Morecambe Bay gas field drilling platforms, located in the East Irish Sea. PD&MS is currently supporting similar decommissioning projects of North Sea installations for two major operators through offshore heavy lift contractor, Allseas Group S.A.

DNV GL, the global provider of risk management services, is extending a offshore safety training program which aims to advance the role of elected safety representatives (ESRs) in minimizing the risk of accidents and improving safety. The course, which is accredited by OPITO, will now be available at DNV GL’s Manchester offices from October to complement and add capacity to the training already provided in its Aberdeen office. DNV GL said it is the only accredited provider of this training, which was started last year and is available to more than 2,000 ESRs working across the industry. It is the first recognized standard applied to any safety representative training since the creation of the basic course, introduced in 1989.

Serica Energy plc is pleased to confirm it has now completed the farm out of UK East Irish Sea Blocks 113/26b and 113/27c (Licence P.1482) with Centrica through its subsidiary Hydrocarbon Resources Limited. Under the agreement, HRL has acquired an operated 45% interest in the licence, with Serica retaining 20%,in consideration for HRL bearing Serica’s share of costs associated with the drilling of an exploration well, upto a gross cap of £11 million. In addition, the transaction involved the transfer from Serica to HRL of a 15% interest and operatorship in the adjacent Block 113/22a (Licence P.2124), which was awarded in the 27th Offshore Licensing Round. The equity interests over the two licences are now aligned.

Survival Craft Inspectorate (SCI), a global provider of emergency marine systems and support services, said it has made a key appointment as it targets further growth in 2014. David Weston has been appointed training and competence operations manager at the business, which recently opened its 12th office in Rotterdam. As well as his company-wide auditing role, David – who served in the RAF for 22 years – heads up the new Survival Craft Inspectorate Training Academy in Stonehaven.

Technip awarded a five-year sub-sea Inspection, repair and maintenance contract by ConocoPhillips U.K. Technip has been awarded a five-year inspection, repair and maintenance (IRM) frame agreement contract by ConocoPhillips (U.K.) Limited for various assets in the Central, Southern North Sea and East Irish Sea. The contract covers diver repair and maintenance solutions for the company’s existing U.K. subsea infrastructure. Technip’s operating center in Aberdeen, Scotland, will execute the contract, which will run from 2012 until 2016, with two two-year options to extend it.

The Walney offshore wind plant in the East Irish Sea has a total generating capacity of 367 MW (megawatts), consisting of 102 wind turbines with a rated generating capacity of 3.6 MW each. Newly opened in February this year, the installation is part of Britain`s effort to raise total offshore generating capacity from 1.5 GW (gigawatts) now to 18 GW by 2020. ABB supplied the Walney wind plant with four 120 MVA (megavolt ampere), 132/33 kV (kilovolts) generator step-up transformers (GSUs) for each phase of the project, two each for Walney 1 (51 turbines) and Walney 2 (51 turbines). Other essential ABB products installed in this major project include three 145 kilovolt (kV) gas insulated switchgear (GIS) units and the main transformer surge arresters.