GM Deep Sea Mooring wins Ivar Aasen gig

Global Maritime Deep Sea Mooring, a Norwegian provider of offshore mooring services, has signed a contract with Det norske oljeselskap to support Prosafe’s Safe Zephyrus accommodation rig at the Ivar Aasen field in the North Sea. 

Deep Sea Mooring said on Wednesday that the contract also includes support for the Maersk Interceptor ultra harsh environment jack-up rig.

The company has already installed the pre-lay system for the Safe Zephyrus. It will now supply mooring and pre-lay equipment, offshore personnel, mobilization and demobilization services, and operational planning for the accommodation vessel in one of the world’s harshest offshore environments 175 kilometers offshore Norway.

The Safe Zephyrus is a semi-submersible accommodation vessel equipped with a DP3 system, a 12-point wire mooring arrangement, and has an open deck area is 1,000 square meters.

The vessel is scheduled to stay in the Ivar Aasen field until the end of January 2017 with an option to extend until June 2017. The mooring of the Maersk Interceptor is also in the same field.

Deep Sea Mooring will secure the Safe Zephyrus with 12 mooring lines which have been pre-laid with the mooring configuration consisting of fiber rope inserts, subsurface buoyancy units, chains, wires, and GM Vryhof’s Stevpris MK6 anchors.

Det norske oljeselskap will also use Deep Sea Mooring’s radio-frequency identification (RFID) system that ensures the tracking and documentation of all delivered and certified equipment via hand-held devices.

Wolfgang Wandl, CEO of Global Maritime Mooring Group, said: “With the integrity of mooring systems so vital to accommodation vessels today – where mooring line failures can potentially lead to collisions with adjacent platforms – operators can settle for nothing less than the best in safe, innovative and quality mooring solutions.”

Åge Straume, Managing Director of Deep Sea Mooring Norway, added: “We are delighted to partner with Det norske oljeselskap as they look to maximize returns from the important but challenging Ivar Aasen field.”

The Ivar Aasen field is located in the northern part of the North Sea, west of the Johan Sverdrup field and 175 kilometers offshore Karmøy, Norway. Det norske oljeselskap operates the field which contains approximately 200 million barrels of oil equivalent.

The company recently agreed to merge its operations with the Norwegian subsidiary of BP in a move that will double the company’s size and add operated installations, such as Skarv, Ula, and Valhall, to its current Alvheim and Ivar Aasen fields. The new company will be called Aker BP.