Reach Subsea is developing new technologies and services it anticipates will significantly reduce costs and virtually eliminate its carbon footprint
It is working with industrial partners to reshape the way subsea services are provided to improve the environmental sustainability of subsea operations.
This comes as the Oslo-listed company has increased vessel utilisation into 2021 by supporting offshore windfarm surveys and projects, particularly in the US.
“We intend to announce our new innovative solutions in early 2021, with the aim of bringing it to market in 2022,” Reach Subsea board said in its latest financial statement.
“The anticipated impact of these solutions are significant reductions in the cost of providing subsea services, and virtually eliminating the carbon footprint associated with subsea services.”
This is in response to the challenges and opportunities Reach faces to maintain a competitive cost structure and remain flexible to cope with a market increasingly characterised by short- and medium-term projects. Reach expects a tough Q1 2021 and then a dramatic change in its business environment.
“The challenges are evident as subsea services provided to the oil and gas sector, our historical core market, will have lower activity levels than in the past,” Reach said in the report. “The opportunities are that our core subsea service competence can be utilised in the growing offshore wind sector.”
Reach has partnered with MMT to provide survey services on Equinor’s Massachusetts offshore windfarm project in eastern the US since April 2020. This is in addition to several offshore oil and renewables projects the partners are working on.
“Our ambition is to build on this success, and also increase our footprint within IMR services to the offshore wind sector,” said Reach.
In the offshore oil sector, Reach operates six subsea spreads, including vessels, ROVs (remotely operated vehicles) and personnel, alone or together with partners.
It had a solid 2020 for projects, but low oil prices and the coronavirus pandemic has driven exploration and production companies to reduce their budgets and postpone projects.
Reach’s vessel charter commitments are fully covered for Q4 2020 and Q1 2021, especially to support offshore wind projects, but it anticipates fleet changes.
“We are monitoring the market for opportunistic asset additions to complement and strengthen our portfolio, and to replace Topaz Tiamat and Havila Harmony,” Reach said.
Topaz Tiamat is set to complete survey and subsea work with MMT in December 2020. P&O Maritime Logistics said Topaz Tiamat will work on the Changfang and Xidao windfarms (offshore Taiwan), supporting the installation of foundations and monopiles for Boskalis.
Havila Harmony was demobilised in August 2020 after a spread of subsea projects in the Caribbean.
MMT and Reach will also conduct surveys for Equinor’s offshore wind projects using Stril Explorer, into Q1 2021.
Reach has around 430 project days for execution in Q4 2020 and about 470 project days for 2021 execution. It also has an order backlog of Nkr170M (US$18.6M).
This quarter, Reach has been awarded several contracts and call-offs under frame agreements, involving inspection, survey and construction support projects across Europe and the Americas.
In October, Reach was awarded a contract for Olympic Challenger in the Gulf of Mexico starting this month and running through Q1 2021, with options to extend towards Q3 2021.
Also in October, subsea construction vessel Viking Neptune was booked for an offshore wind contract between Eidesvik Offshore and DEME, with Reach as the supplier of ROVs and ROV services. The contract commenced early November for a fixed period of 84 days with options to extend.
Viking Neptun is on charter for a spread of work for Eidesvik and Ocean Installer for 120-200 days in both 2020 and 2021. This vessel will work on a project for DEME in the offshore wind sector from November until February next year, where Reach will deliver ROV services.
Eidesvik said in November it secured a contract with DEME Offshore, for a fixed period of 84 days for its 2015-built subsea construction support vessel Viking Neptun. This charter started this month and will run until September 2021, although there are extension options.
Reach will continue using Havila Subsea in the Mediterranean this year and into Q1 2021.
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