Safe Scandinavia: From flotel to tender support vessel

A semi-submersible accommodation rig arrived on Saturday morning, March 21, at the Westcon yard in Ølen, Norway. The ‘Safe Scandinavia’ flotel will now be converted into a Tender Support Vessel by Westcon.

Once converted, the rig will support Statoil’s drilling operations at Oseberg Øst field in the Norwegian part of the North Sea. According to Westcon, the rig, which is now an accommodation unit, will be able to store drilling fluid and cuttings as Statoil’s drilling operations at Oseberg Øst continues.

The work on the Prosafe-owned rig is expected to be completed in the first half of 2015.

Safe Scandinavia is a moored semi-submersible accommodation rig with beds for 583 persons for worldwide operations and 292 single beds for operations in Norway. It was built in 1984 at the Aker Verdal yard to an Aker H-3.2E design.

The rig has a twelve point, all chain mooring system allowing station keeping in the harshest of environments. According to Prosafe, in April 2007, Safe Scandinavia was the first floating accommodation unit ever to be awarded Acknowledgement of Compliance (AoC) by the Norwegian Petroleum Safety Authority.

Offshore Energy Today Staff; Images: Westcon