Geoquip adapts coring method for wind farm study offshore Japan

Dec. 7, 2021
Geoquip Marine has completed a geotechnical investigation for Influx Offshore Wind Power at Karatsu offshore Japan.

Offshore staff

GALLEN, SwitzerlandGeoquip Marine has completed a geotechnical investigation for Influx Offshore Wind Power at Karatsu offshore Japan.

The company and partner Fukada operated the DP-2 vessel Poseidon-1 for the project, which features a twin tower derrick permanently installed over a central moonpool.

Their GMTR50 drilling package includes sampling, CPT testing and wireline coring equipment spreads.

According to Geoquip, standard push sampling and CPT testing to complete the boreholes were not practical due to rock beneath the mudline.

Instead, the company deployed a wireline core barrel to recover rock cores and progress boreholes, undertaking coring in rock using a standard API drillstring.

Project manager Torran Purchase said the arrangement delivered a strong recovery level, also allowing the team to revert to sampling and CPT testing where necessary, with less than 1% downtime.

“Given the challenging conditions experienced throughout the duration of the work, the time saved by not having to recover the drillstring to perform coring, improved safety by reducing the risk exposure of the drill crew whilst allowing operations to be completed in shorter weather windows.”

12/07/2021