Offshore staff
MONGSTAD, Norway – PSW Group is working with Clean Shores Global to collect and repair buoyancy elements for risers.
These components are designed to sustain some of the load from the riser that connects the drilling rig to the seafloor.
They are attached in pairs around the riser, but in extreme weather conditions in the North Sea area, they occasionally become detached.
In certain cases, the elements will be washed up on shore as marine waste, and over time will release plastic particles as they disintegrate.
Clean Shores and PSW Group have completed the first phase of a trial project for the collection, repair, and re-use of these components. This involved collecting two elements at Fribergsholmen in Solund, Norway, which were then transported to PSW Group’s base at Mongstad for restoration.
According to the Norwegian Environment Directorate, millions of tons of waste are released into the world’s oceans each year. Plastic is a concern.
If the joint solution proves to be commercially viable, Clean Shores aims to expand the scheme along the coast and investigate a solution that will allow elements to be collected and brought to the nearest deepwater quay for collection, then transported to the Mongstad case.
Clean Shores is in dialogue with an operator with a large fleet that may be willing to collect the elements.
07/16/2018
