The latest succession of offshore vessel charters to be awarded indicate continuing activity in the UK offshore wind market. However, the recent awards show work is also progressing in survey, drilling, and installation in support of oil and gas projects in West Africa, Australia, and the North Sea.
Seacat crewboat awarded long-term charter off Scotland
Seacat Services has been awarded a long-term contract for crewboat services at the Beatrice offshore wind farm in Scottish waters.
The recently delivered catamaran vessel Seacat Rainbow will be deployed to serve the contract. This will make it the second Seacat crewboat to provide support for the Beatrice wind farm after sister vessel Seacat Weatherly, which began operating at the site in July 2020.
Esvagt SOV to support Equinor for five more years
Work continues in the UK offshore wind sector following Equinor's award of a five-year extension to the existing charter for Esvagt's service operation vessel (SOV) Esvagt Njord. The extension means the vessel will continue supporting the Dudgeon Offshore Wind Farm off the east coast of England until the end of 2026.
Esvagt Njord has been operating in support of Equinor at the Dudgeon development since the autumn of 2016.
Solstad CSVs bag contracts in renewables, subsea sectors
Closing the latest succession of charters in support of the UK offshore wind market is the news that Solstad Offshore's subsea construction support vessel (CSV) Normand Fortress has secured a contract with Manor Renewable Energy (MRE) for operation on an undisclosed UK wind farm.
The contract is scheduled to commence in October 2021, in continuation of the former announced contract with MHI Vestas, keeping the vessel fully utilised into the first quarter of 2022.
Meanwhile, the Solstad CSV Normand Mermaid has been awarded a contract with an international seabed seismic company. The vessel will be used for a deep-water ocean bottom node (OBN) baseline survey project offshore Angola starting in the second quarter of 2021.
MMA to provide tugs, barges for local subsea gig
Australia's MMA Offshore has been awarded a vessel contract with TechnipFMC to provide tug and barge support for a major subsea installation project in Australia.
Utilising a combination of both owned and chartered vessels, MMA will provide a fleet of four tug and barge sets to support subsea installation works as well as two offshore positioning tugs. The company will act as lead contractor and will subcontract to other vessel operators to provide the overall vessel requirements.
All vessels involved with the works will be delivering equipment to the offshore field and will be operated under all relevant Australian requirements.
The total contract value is in excess of AU$20 million (US$15.5 million). Offshore operations are scheduled to commence in FY 2022 (in or about August 2021) and are due to be completed either at the end of the 2021 calendar year or early in 2022.
Maersk Drilling secures one-well contract with Petrogas Netherlands
Maersk Drilling has been awarded a one-well contract by Petrogas E&P Netherlands. The harsh-environment jackup rig Maersk Resolute will perform well maintenance and drill a side-track of the A9 well at the P9 Horizon field in the Dutch North Sea.
The contract is expected to commence in April 2021, with an estimated duration of 45 days.
The contract value is approximately US$4.5 million.
