Nick Terdre, Contributing Editor
Floatel International is a new entrant in the accommodation and support services rig sector with a special focus on the North Sea market.
Floatel International’s newbuild accommodation rig is designed to meet the highest standards and deliver maximum operability.
“It’s more than 20 years since an accommodation rig was purpose-built for the North Sea,” says CEO Peter Jacobsson. “There’s a lack of good quality capacity to meet demand in this region.”
By 2010, the company will be in a position to meet year-round demand from the North Sea, or any other region. In March, it placed a $305-million turnkey order for what it calls the next generation of semisubmersible accommodation rig with Keppel FELS of Singapore. Delivery is scheduled for April 2010, and the contract includes an option for a second unit, which has to be declared this year.
In May, Floatel International raised $101 million in equity and plans to make further forays into the financial markets. A management company registered in Bermuda and incorporated in Oslo, it has a strong Norwegian connection in the shape of chairman Erland Bassoe, founder and main owner of Bassoe Offshore. During 2008, the company plans to seek a full listing on the Oslo Stock Exchange.
Operations, including management of the newbuilding project, will be run out of Gothenburg by a team brimming with offshore experience. Jacobsson himself was previously CEO at Consafe Offshore, and includes on his CV senior managerial positions with Subsea 7, Halliburton Subsea, Rockwater, Safe Offshore, and GVA. The operations manager, Nils Erik Flink, was previously with Consafe Offshore, Stena Drilling, and Safe Offshore, while the career of technical manager Nils Mårtensson, who will be in charge of the newbuilding project, includes past positions at Consafe Offshore and GVA.
Floatel International has been established to take advantage of an attractive market opportunity, Jacobsson says. Driven by high oil prices, world demand for semisubmersible accommodation rigs is now stronger than the current dedicated fleet of 19 units can satisfy. Such support is needed during hook-up and commissioning in the development phase, for maintenance and upgrading during the production phase, and finally for decommissioning.
Supply in the North Sea in general, and the Norwegian sector in particular, is limited. In the Norwegian sector only one approved rig has DP3 capability, a requirement for operations in dynamic positioning mode, and only three other rigs are approved for operations using a mooring system. The advantages offered by an efficient, new, purpose-built unit are enhanced by the fact that the average age of the existing world fleet is 25 years.
Floatel International, which carried out a full evaluation of offshore yards before awarding the building contract, believes it has found the right partner in Keppel FELS. “Our conclusion was that Keppel FELS was the most reliable shipyard and offered the best price,” Jacobsson says. The yard has built two flotels previously, including Safe Concordia, which was delivered to Consafe Offshore on time and within budget when Jacobsson was CEO.
The new rig will be built to Keppel FELS’s DSS20NS DP3 design. This is based on the proven DSS20 drilling rig design, one unit of which was delivered to Maersk in 2003. Floatel International provided substantial input into redeveloping the arrangement for an accommodation application, Jacobsson says.
The rig will be classed by DNV and built to conform with the Norwegian sector Norsok standards, as well as the requirements needed to gain the Norwegian Petroleum Safety Authority’s Acknowledgement of Compliance.
In May wind tunnel tests were carried out at German-Dutch Wind Tunnels in the Netherlands. This essentially concluded the basic engineering, according to Mårtensson. Detailed design takes place over the summer and autumn and fabrication is scheduled to start late in the year.
The rig will have a large berth capacity - 440 beds in single cabins, much higher than any existing unit approved for the Norwegian sector - or up to 600 in a mixture of single and double cabins.
It will provide an efficient working platform, with an available deck load in excess of 2,000 tons, a main deck working area of 2,200 sq m, two 50-ton cranes, and ample space for the client’s project personnel.
Station-keeping capability will be maximized, and operational costs minimized, through the availability of both a DP system and an eight-point mooring system. The DP system is designed to meet Dynamic Positioning Class 3 notation and thruster-assist mooring notation DNV Posmoor ATA, meaning lower fuel consumption in calm weather.
Power needs will be supplied by six diesel engines while the thruster systems will have fixed propellers, which will reduce fuel use during DP operations compared with variable pitch propellers. A contract has been entered into with Wärtsilä for supply of the 3.68MW diesel engines and LIPS thrusters.
The rig will have a telescopic gangway able to tolerate +/- 6m motions. Calculations based on a motion limit of +/- 4.5m indicate that the rig will be able to stay connected in sea states of up to 8m significant wave heights, giving it 99% operational uptime in North Sea conditions.
In May four semisubs were working as flotels in the North Sea, including one in the Norwegian sector. “There’s a big backlog of maintenance and upgrading work in the North Sea, operators are struggling to find ways of meeting accommodation needs,” says Jacobsson. Though Floatel International has yet to get into full marketing mode, feedback from the market has been positive so far, and the company aims to have a contract in place in the course of 2008. •
For more information contact Peter Jacobsson, Floatel International Management. Tel +46 3167 3760, fax +46 3167 3769, [email protected], www.floatel.se
