Kreuz Subsea deploys new dive support vessel for Shell job

Subsea services company Kreuz Subsea has mobilized its recently-delivered newbuild dive support vessel, Kreuz Challenger, as part of its seven-year contract with Brunei Shell Petroleum Company (BSP).

Kreuz Subsea said on Friday that the contract, which runs until 2022, includes supporting Shell with inspection, repair and maintenance services to be carried out on offshore oil and gas structures in Negara Brunei Darussalam’s territorial waters.

Typically located in water depths of up to 80 metres, these include drilling platforms, production stations, mini-production stations with combined drilling and production functions, gas compression stations, vent jackets, two single buoy moorings, Brunei’s LNG loading jetty, and various pipelines.

The DP-2 DSV Kreuz Challenger has been purpose built by the Vard shipyard in Norway to meet all Shell’s standards and requirements. The vessel was named in September 2017. It can accommodate 105 personnel and is equipped with a 100-ton active heave compensation crane, a 12-man saturation diving system, and a self-propelling hyperbaric lifeboat.

In addition, Kreuz Subsea said it has entered into a joint venture (JV) with Bruneian offshore marine services company, SPHI Marine. The partnership has seen SPHI Marine acquire an equity interest in the firm’s Brunei operations.

As part of the JV, Kreuz Subsea has committed to developing local personnel with competencies in the field of offshore commercial diving and ROV services through the transfer of technical knowledge over the tenure of the BSP contract. To date, it has trained more than 80 Bruneian subsea workers to internationally acceptable standards.