Offshore staff
ABERDEEN, UK -- Maersk Oil’s GryphonFPSO will undergo repairs in Rotterdam. The vessel, which serves the Gryphon, Maclure, and Tullich fields, had to be taken offline in February after suffering damage during a storm in the UK North Sea.
This caused some of its anchors to snap, causing it to drift off station before the vessel was secured again.
Pre-engineering work is being performed by the Damen shipyard in Rotterdam. Maersk expects the FPSO to sail away by the end of May, but it will likely not return to its offshore location before spring 2012.
In the meantime, further repairs will be performed on subsurface infrastructure. Maersk stresses that subsurface wells and manifolds were not damaged.
“This has been a busy period for Maersk Oil in the UK; our staff and contractors have been working very hard to deal with the fallout of the damage toGryphonand ensure that the safety of people and our assets has been safeguarded,” said Martin Pedersen, managing director of Maersk Oil in the UK.
“Maersk Oil has been fully engaged with the Health and Safety Executive throughout the damage assessment and investigation process, and whilstGryphon is undergoing repairs there will be a key focus on the mooring systems and heading controls."
Oil production fromGryphoncontributes around one third of Maersk’s total oil output in the UK sector. The company is reviewing options for further development of the field to maximize future oil and gas recovery.
05/10/2011
