Subsea 7 has expanded its fleet of offshore construction and maintenance support vessels with the addition of a new reel-lay ship
The Oslo-listed company welcomed newbuild vessel Seven Vega into operation, as it seeks to save US$400M by reducing its overall fleet.
Seven Vega was built by Royal IHC in the Netherlands for installing complex rigid flowlines, including pipe-in-pipe systems, piggyback systems and electrical trace heating, in water depths up to 3,000 m.
The 149-m vessel is fitted with two reels: the maximum storage capacity of the main reel is 5,600 tonnes and can stow products from 4-inch to 20-inch in diameter; the secondary reel has storage capacity of 1,600 tonnes.
Subsea 7 executive vice president for projects and operations Phil Simons said Seven Vega was one of the most capable and cost-effective reel-lay vessels in the market.
“The vessel is an important, long-term investment and sets a new standard for offshore pipelay,” he said.
Seven Vega has Kongsberg-supplied dynamic positioning (DP) to Lloyd’s Register DPIII class. The Isle of Man-flagged vessel has a main active heave compensated crane with 250 tonnes capacity and an auxiliary deck crane rated at 50 tonnes, both with a depth range of 3,000 m.
“It has been purposely designed to install economical flowline technologies that address the growing market trend towards longer tie-back developments,” Mr Simons said.
“This includes complex pipe-in-pipe, piggyback and electrically heat traced flowline systems, risers, umbilicals and structures in water depths up to 3,000 m.”
Seven Vega also has two permanently installed side-launching work-class XLX-EVO ROV systems, rated to 3,000 m, positioned mid ships.
“The vessel incorporates decades of knowledge and experience, resulting in a cutting-edge pipelay vessel focused on crew safety, operational efficiency and flexibility,” said Mr Simons.
Seven Vega is now operational and is loading pipe for its first project in Norway.
This addition comes as Subsea 7 reduces its active fleet by up to 10 vessels and cuts 3,000 jobs. Its management was looking to deliver annualised operating cash savings of US$400M by Q2 2021, but this was revised in its latest financial results to the end of 2021, due to rephasing of project execution.
Subsea 7 reported fleet utilisation of 84% during Q3 2020, due to high employment of vessels providing maintenance support services in Norway, return of development work in the Gulf of Mexico and pipelay support in Brazil.
In the Gulf of Mexico, engineering progressed on the Anchor, King’s Quay and Jack/St Malo projects. Preparations began for installation activity on the Manuel project, ahead of the arrival of Seven Vega in Q4 2020. Offshore activity also continued on BP’s Mad Dog 2 project.
In Brazil, its four pipelay support vessels achieved high utilisation, while Seven Seas continued offshore activities on the Lapa NE project and front-end engineering work continued for the Bacalhau project.
In Norway, Seven Arctic completed the last offshore phase of the Snorre expansion project in Q3 2020, while Seven Oceans installed an electrically heat-traced flowline on the Ærfugl project.
In the UK, Seven Borealis completed installation activities for the Arran project, before transiting to West Africa to work on the Jubilee turret remediation and Zinia projects, offshore Ghana and Angola respectively. Fabrication activity continued for the Sangomar project in Senegal.
“Our balance sheet strength provides a solid foundation from which to preserve the competitiveness of our oil and gas businesses through the current downturn, while advancing our strategy of proactive participation in the energy transition,” said Subsea 7 chief executive John Evans.
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