Offshore staff
LUXEMBOURG – Subsea 7’s Seven Oceans has completed installation of three pipelines for the Johan Castberg project in the Norwegian North Sea, the company revealed in its latest trading statement.
In the same sector, the Seven Arctic installed a bundle for Equinor’s Snorre life expansion project and began offshore operations for Aker BP’s Ærfugl development in the Norwegian Sea.
Elsewhere, the Seven Borealis progressed activity on the Arran-Shearwater tieback in the UK central North Sea, while in the US Gulf of Mexico, the company started pipelay operations for BP’s Mad Dog 2 project.
Subsea 7’s Renewables business finished the offshore scope of the Virginia Coastal Wind project and started preparations for the Yunlin development, with vessels in transit to Taiwan for the offshore scope.
Despite an incident on the Seaway Strashnov which impacted progress on the Triton Knoll project, the vessel was able to return to the field in June and, accompanied by a third-party vessel, is working to meet the original schedule.
Overall, use of the company’s active vessel fleet fell to 71% in 2Q, partly due to a subdued market in the UK North Sea and low activity in Africa and the Middle East.
The offshore operating environment has stabilized to an extent, Subsea 7 added, following the partial recovery in the oil price and adoption of new work practices related to COVID-19.
In the SURF and Conventional segments, E&P companies have cut their capex budgets by 25-30% since the start of the year, leading to some contracts being rescheduled.
To date, Subsea 7 has suffered no contract cancellations, but it is re-sizing its fleet and the cost base to mitigate the impact of lower offshore activity levels.
In the Renewables sector tendering activity remains strong. While there is intense competition for offshore wind turbine foundation installation work, Subsea 7 is offering an integrated approach encompassing foundation and inner-array cables, and a lump-sum turnkey offer connected to management of large, complex projects.
07/29/2020
