The New Year brings good news for the global offshore projects sector, with key contracts being approved and others already underway and some even successfully concluded. Despite the ongoing threat posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, the sector is enjoying steady progress over a broad span that encompasses the North Sea, North America, and the Asia-Pacific region, as evidenced by this week's string of noteworthy developments.
DEME completes jacket foundation installation on Moray East wind farm
DEME Offshore has completed installation work on the 100 wind turbine jacket foundations at the 950MW Moray East wind farm 22 kilometres offshore Scotland. The installation, which began shortly after the awarding of the contract in December 2018, was completed by the end of December 2020.
DEME claims the work was completed safely and successfully despite being beset by challenges such as the pandemic and an incident wherein the installation vessel Orion 1 sustained damage while still under construction.
Fred Olsen Windcarrier jackup mobilises for Moray East turbine installation
With the completion of the jacket foundation installation at Moray East, work can now begin on the installation of the wind turbines themselves, hence the recently completed mobilisation of Fred Olsen Windcarrier's jackup vessel Bold Tern at the Port of Esbjerg in Denmark.
The vessel will then sail for the Scottish port of Invergordon, which has been selected as the pre-assembly harbour.
The subsequent installation will cover 100 V164 9.5MW turbines supplied by MHI Vestas Offshore Wind.
Hornsea Project Three development gets UK government green light
There's more good news for the UK offshore wind sector as the country's government, through the Planning Inspectorate, has given its consent for development work to proceed on the Ørsted-owned Hornsea Project Three wind farm in the North Sea some 120 kilometres off Norfolk.
Once completed, the 696-square-kilometre wind farm will have 231 turbines generating approximately 2.4 GW of electricity that will directly benefit up to two million UK households.
Lundin gets approval for exploration drilling, commences work on infill drilling in North Sea
Wrapping up this week's North Sea project updates are two announcements by Lundin Energy. First, the company states that Norway's Petroleum Directorate has given its permission for drilling of an exploration well offshore Norway. The authorised area is northwest of Lundin's Solveig discovery and will be drilled using the semi-submersible rig West Bollsta.
In the Edvard Grieg field some 15 kilometres away from the Solveig discovery, the Valaris-owned jackup rig Rowan Viking arrived earlier this week to commence infill drilling on behalf of Lundin. This is Rowan Viking's second project for Lundin at the same field, having earlier drilled production and injection wells in the area.
Heerema wraps up decommissioning at Canada's Sable field
Meanwhile, Heerema Marine Contractors' construction vessel Thialf has completed an eight-month-long campaign to remove the deactivated offshore facilities at the Sable gas field offshore Nova Scotia on behalf of ExxonMobil Canada. The campaign entailed the engineering, preparation, removal, and disposal (EPRD) of seven platform topsides, seven jackets, and 22 conductors.
A total of five barge loads carrying Sable platform components, weighing approximately 48,000 tonnes combined, were subsequently towed across the Atlantic by two tugs. Heerema said approximately 99 per cent of the material from the removed components will be recycled primarily into steel.
Santos to kick off US$235 million drilling programme in Timor Sea
Australian energy company Santos, as operator of the Bayu-Undan Joint Venture, has made a final investment decision for the US$235 million Phase 3C infill drilling programme at the Bayu-Undan gas field in the Timor Sea, offshore Timor-Leste. The programme comprises three production wells (two platform and one subsea) and will develop additional natural gas and liquids reserves, extending field life as well as production from the offshore facilities and the Darwin LNG plant.
The wells will be drilled using the jackup rig Noble Tom Prosser, with the first well scheduled to spud in the second quarter of 2021, and production from the first well expected in the third quarter.
