Centrica charters Seajacks Kraken for Morecambe Bay walk-to-work project

Centrica has chartered Seajacks’ self-propelled jack-up Seajacks Kraken for walk-to-work services for its gas facilities in Morecambe Bay off the UK west coast.

Of late, the unit has been best known for its work in the offshore wind sector.

A new project to boost gas production from Morecambe Bay is set to take Centrica Energy’s current investment in the region past the £100 million (US$154.7 million) mark and unlock new gas reserves.

Work to tap into new reserves in the North Morecambe field will start this month, unlocking up to 8.8 billion cubic feet of gas – enough to heat nearly 200,000 UK homes for a year.

The £16 million project will install new equipment on the North Morecambe platform, which will use the high pressure of the nearby Rhyl field to boost pressure and production from the wells in the North Morecambe field.

With a 150-strong team working on the development, more than 60 people will be based onshore and 90 will work on the installation at any one time.

The North Morecambe platform is normally unmanned so teams will be working on it from Seajacks Kraken. The self-propelled jack-up allows the project teams to walk to work across a gangway to the platform, rather than rely on daily helicopter flights offshore.