VESSELS, RIGS, & SURFACE SYSTEMS

Versabar has commissioned the VB-10000, a new catamaran heavy lift vessel built in the US.

“We’ve designed the VB‐10,000 to be a versatile heavy‐lift asset,” says Jon Khachaturian, President of Versabar. “As it’s presently configured, with the four 1,500 ton blocks, we have a lift capacity of 6,000 tons. By altering the block size, capacity could be increased significantly; and with the anticipated commissioning of the DP-3 system, theVB-10,000 will have the ability to perform deepwater lowering and lifting as well.”

Songa Offshore fleet fully booked

Songa Offshore has issued an update on its drilling fleet, which currently has assignments in the Asia/Pacific region and northwest Europe. TheSonga Venus is working on the second of four firm wells for Shell Development (Australia). Songa Mercur is completing a one-well contract for Gazflot offshore Sakhalin, eastern Russia, and was scheduled to depart for China to start a program for ENI in the second half of October.

In September,Songa Dee entered the Westcon Ølen yard for repairs arising from a collision earlier this year with the support vessel Far Grimshader. The rig left the yard on Oct. 8 as scheduled, and is due to resume operating for Marathon/Lundin in the Norwegian sector. Also off Norway, Songa Delta is on assignment to Wintershall and Det Norske Oljeselskap, while Songa Trym is working for Statoil.

Meanwhile,Songa Eclipse is under construction at Jurong Shipyard Singapore. The program is on schedule and commissioning is under way, with an estimated delivery date of end-April 2011. Songa Offshore is targeting several contracts for an immediate start following commissioning and delivery of the rig.

Elsewhere, Songa Offshore says it has completed the sale of its drillshipSonga Saturn for net proceeds of $260 million. The vessel was delivered in early October to a subsidiary of PetroSaudi Oil Services Ltd. The net cash effect to Songa Offshore, after repayment of debt, will be around $150 million.

Solitaire resumes Nord Stream work

Construction of the Nord Stream pipeline was expected to resume in late October in the Finnish section of the route, as the Allseas pipelay vesselSolitaire entered the eastern part of the Finnish Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). Solitaire will construct the majority of the Finnish section of Nord Stream during autumn 2010 and early 2011.

“Solitaire will construct the majority of the Finnish section of the Nord Stream pipeline during October 2010 and January 2011, at an average rate of approximately 2.4 km (1.5 mi)/day. Construction is proceeding on schedule,” said Simon Bonnell, Nord Stream’s Task Force Manager Finland.

The Allseas pipelay vessel Solitaire has resumed work on the Nord Stream project, and is now working off the coast of Finland.

Solitaire will construct 227 of the 375 km (141 of the 233 mi) of the Finnish section of the pipeline. This vessel started laying pipe in Russian waters in the beginning of September and has so far laid approximately 120 km (74.5 mi) of the pipeline. Three pipe carrier vessels will trans-ship the pipe segments to the vessel from Kotka, where they were concrete weight-coated at the EUPEC facility and the Hanko marshalling yard.

To date, nearly 500 km (310 mi) of the first pipeline have been constructed in Swedish, German, Russian, and Finnish waters. Saipem’sCastoro Sei laid about 150 km (93 mi) of pipe during summer and early autumn in the westernmost part of the Finnish EEZ. Both of the twin pipelines have already been constructed and pulled ashore at the Russian landfall in Portovaya Bay near Vyborg, and at the German landfall in Lubmin, near Greifswald.

Nord Stream’s twin pipelines will be 1,224 km (760 mi) long and consist of altogether 202,000 concrete weight-coated pipes, each 12 m (39 ft) long and weighing approximately 23 tons. When both lines are completed in 2012, they will transport 55 bcm of gas per year – enough to meet the needs of more than 26 million European households.

Tidewater orders deepwater PSVs

Tidewater has entered into a contract with Drydocks World to build four 265-ft (80.7-m) deepwater platform supply vessels (PSVs) at its yard in Batam, Indonesia.

Delivery of the 3,200-metric ton (3,517-ton) dwt, UT 755CDL-design vessels should start in April 2012 and finish later that year. The total contract value is around $100 million, excluding some owner-furnished equipment. The agreement also provides options to construct up to four further vessels of similar specifications and at similar pricing.

Bully drill tower sails for Singapore

The drill tower for theNoble Bully II drillship has left the Huisman construction site and is in transit to Keppel Shipyard in Singapore, where it should arrive in early November.

The Bully drillship design provides relatively low-cost, flexible drilling in ultra-deep and arctic conditions. Huisman’s compact box-type drilling tower, which was selected in place of a conventional derrick, allows for a smaller vessel compared to other deepwater drillships of similar capacity. The box type drill tower design, the company claims, also improves safety and maintenance.

Huisman designed and manufactured the tower and associated cranes, pipe, riser, and BOP handling equipment. Most of the equipment was produced at the company’s yard just outside Rotterdam.

The drill tower was upended on the quay, fully assembled and tested prior to transportation. The topdrive, including service loops, was installed and tested, and one of the setback carousels, including four pipe rackers, also was installed, allowing testing of the pipe handling in Schiedam.

The 80-m (262-ft) high drill tower will be placed onboard the vessel via a single lift. Testing and commissioning should follow soon afterwards onboard theNoble Bully II.

The market for offshore vessels, drilling rigs and surface systems remains robust, with activity underway on several fronts throughout the world. A sampling of some of the more notable projects and deals is presented below.