Ocean Installer gets decommissioning gig offshore Mauritania

Norway-based subsea company Ocean Installer will assist BW Offshore in decommissioning the Berge Helene FPSO on the Chinguetti field, 80 km west of Mauritania.

The Berge Helene is operated by BW Offshore for Petronas on the Chinguetti field at a water depth of approximately 800 meters. The FPSO has been in operation on the field since 2006.

The decommissioning follows Petronas’ implementation of its demobilization plan.

Ocean Installer said on Thursday that the project will be executed on a fast track, with offshore operations starting as soon as March/April of 2018. The scope of the project includes disconnection, laydown and wet storage of flexible risers, umbilical and mooring lines from the FPSO, the subsea company added.

Ocean Installer CEO, Steinar Riise, said: “We are continuing to build experience operating in West Africa, after having successfully completed jobs in the Republic of Congo, in Nigeria and in Equatorial Guinea. This will be Ocean Installer’s first job in Mauritania, and we are very pleased that BW Offshore has chosen us.”

The FPSO Berge Helene has an oil production capacity of 75,000 bbl/d, water injection capacity of 100,000 bbl/d, gas compression capacity of 54 mmscfd and storage capacity of 2,000,000 bbl storage.

The Petronas-operated Chinguetti field is located in Deep Water Block 4 of PSC B, located 50 miles (80 km) west of the Mauritania coastline and some 56 miles (90 km) from the capital, Nouakchott.