Offshore staff
LARNACA, Cyprus – Prosafe has five accommodation semisubmersibles under contract in the North Sea this year.
Safe Scandinavia will work at Premier’s Solan oil field development west of Shetland throughout February. It will then transfer to a yard in Norway for conversion to a tender support vessel in preparation for a long-term contract with Statoil at Oseberg Øst.
Regalia is under contract with Talisman UK until November, and Safe Bristolia is expected to start its contract with BG this spring.
Safe Caledonia will work for Nexen until April. In July it will start a 13-month contract for BP at the ETAP complex in the UK central North Sea.
Last month Jurong Shipyard in Singapore delivered the newbuildSafe Boreas. The vessel, currently in transit to Norway, should start a six-month contract supporting hookup and commissioning of Lundin’s Edvard Grieg platform in late April or early May.
Prosafe says demand has weakened for accommodation support in the North Sea, although there are still opportunities that could lead to new contract awards this year.
Safe Britannia and Safe Hibernia are currently working on shorter term contract extensions in Mexico. Prosafe says the cost of shallow-water production offshore Mexico is relatively low, so the recent oil price drop should not impact production volumes negatively.
As a result, demand for accommodation support services should continue.
Safe Concordia, on a long-term charter with Petrobras offshore Brazil, will soon head to the Maua yard for a special periodic survey. As a result, the vessel will be off-hire for around 10 weeks before re-commencing duties for Petrobras.
In Brazil, accommodation support vessels are needed mainly for safety and maintenance purposes on producing fields and all the vessels currently operate in the Campos basin, although demand will likely emerge in other areas, Prosafe says.
Elsewhere,Safe Astoria is working for Shell at the Malampaya field in the Philippines under a contract that expires at the end of July. Shell has the option to extend the contract by up to two months.
02/09/2015
