Offshore staff
ULSTEINVIK, Norway – Island Offshore’s new multi-purpose vessel Island Victory has delivered the first suction anchors for the Johan Castberg FPSO mooring system in the Barents Sea.
The FPSO, due to start operating in 2022, will be connected to 30 subsea wells. Ocean Installer and Castberg operator Equinor are co-operating with Island Offshore on the mooring campaign.
Each of the 15 suction anchors weighs between 90 and 105 metric tons (99 and 116 tons), with height varying from 13-17 m (42.6-55.8 m), while the 170-mm mooring chains weigh 600 kg/m, double the diameter and four times as heavy as regular offshore chains, an Island spokesman said.
On the first trip to the Johan Castberg field location, five anchors and five anchor chains were loaded on board the Island Victory. The target is to set two anchors a day, in addition to attaching chains to each anchor, with three trips to Polarbase in Hammerfest in order to load all the anchors.
Once all 15 anchors are fixed to the seafloor, installation of wire and top chain, placed on the seabed, can begin, in preparation for the FPSO hookup campaign.
“In addition to setting anchors and lines, the seabed floor conditions must be documented as well,” the spokesman said. “Each meter of chain we place on the seabed is filmed by two work ROVs operated by C-Innovation.”
Due to COVID-19 precautions, all parties have agreed to reduce their crews for this program in order to avoid cabin sharing. The Ocean Installer/Equinor operations team comprises 67 personnel, in addition to the vessel crew.
Earlier this year the Island Victory was used for Equinor’s Askeladd project in the same region and to support survey and other subsea work. The vessel lifted and installed on the seafloor two subsea manifolds, each weighing 175.2 metric tons (193.tons).
Once the Castberg work has finished, the vessel will mobilize to the Gulf of Mexico for its next assignment, due to start in August.
05/28/2020
