SBM Offshore to Complete Yme Platform ‘As Soon As Possible’

SBM Offshore to Complete Yme Platform 'As Soon As Possible'

SBM Offshore, a Dutch based provider of systems and services to the global offshore oil and gas industry in its half-yearly report said that it has been working to complete works on the Yme platform “as soon as possible.”

The company couldn’t specify the exact date of the completion of the works on the platform but said: “The timing of completion of the platform still depends upon several factors including the follow-up of the recently discovered grouting issues and the outcome of discussions with the client to agree on a completion schedule, which agreement is still expected to occur before mid-November.”

To remind, SBM’s client, Talisman, on July 11 decided to evacuate the Norwegian North Sea situated platform, due to the discovery of potential cracks in the grouting around the legs of the platform.

On that occasion the company’s spokesman Andreas Middlethon said:“The reason why we chose to evacuate the installation was that we failed to receive a piece of documentation regarding the jack-up, and for security reasons we chose to evacuate.”

He told Reuters that since the substructure of the platform was vital for the security of the facility, Talisman didn’t want to risk anything and thus decided to evacuate personnel until the documentation is available.

“We do not know the duration of this delay, but hope that SBM will be able to furnish the required documentation soon,” Middlethon said.

The troublesome Yme field, located 100 km offshore Norway, was supposed to deliver first oil back in 2010, but has failed to do so, mainly due to the issues with the platform delivered by the Netherlands-based SBM Offshore. Independent technical studies have indicated that a substantial amount of work is still required to complete the facility to meet Norwegian specifications.

Due to these timing uncertainties Talisman in May 2011 announced it would remove Yme from their forward production projection, and expressed concern over the continued delays in the delivery of the platform.

CNBC in July quoted a Dutch analyst as saying: “This is sensitive for SBM Offshore. It was a strong company but they have suffered a lot of damage from the Yme project.”

SBM Offshore today reported 1H net income of $157.8 million, on a turnover of $1,7 billion. The company said that the results were in line with the expectations.

[mappress]
Offshore Energy Today Staff, August 16, 2012