Concrete platform base set in place at Cenovus’ Canadian field

Canada’s oil and gas company Cenovus Energy has welcomed a structure that will form part of the drilling platform at its field offshore Newfoundland, Canada.

Based on social media posts by Cenovus, a little over a month ago, the West White Rose concrete gravity structure (CGS) left the graving dock in Argentia, Newfoundland. After the approximately 200,000-tonne structure was floated out, it was on its way to a nearby offshore site, where it was supposed to stay for approximately six weeks while Cenovus prepared to tow it to the White Rose field.

After spending a month at the head of Placentia Bay, where it was prepared for offshore tow and ballasted to a draft of 65 meters, the CGS was en route to the White Rose field on June 13. The structure will serve as the base supporting a topside module to enable drilling and oil extraction.

This past weekend, the structure arrived in the field and was installed in its new home on June 22. Fair weather conditions allowed the installation to take place ahead of schedule.

After starting their journey from Kiewit’s yard in Texas on June 3, the topsides are expected to arrive at the field later this summer. 

Cenovus is the operator and majority owner of the White Rose field and satellite extensions. The original field was developed using subsea technology, consisting of three drill centres tied back to a floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel. The field is located 350 kilometres east of St. John’s.

The Canadian player expects the West White Rose project to access further resources to the west of the field, using a fixed drilling rig tied back to the existing FPSO SeaRose. In 2022, the developer expressed hope for the project to add an estimated 14 years of production to the White Rose field.

Cenovus’ Q1 2025 report from May stated that the West White Rose project was progressing toward installation and commissioning of the offshore platform later this year. At the time, the project was said to be approximately 90% complete and remained on schedule for first oil in Q2 2026.