Sentinel Marine deploys ERRV to the North Sea

Sentinel Marine’s newbuild emergency response and rescue vessel (ERRV) has been deployed to work for Statoil in the North Sea after being christened at the Aberdeen Harbour.

The newbuild ERRV, named the Mariner Sentinel, will be at the Norwegian oil company’s Mariner field east of Shetland. According to Sentinel Marine, this was the sixth of nine vessels to join the company’s fleet since 2015.

Statoil’s Aberdeen-based offshore logistics and services supervisor, Line Kaldestad, was given the honor of officially naming the vessel. The blessing of the vessel was carried out by the Howard Drysdale, superintendent of Aberdeen Seafarers Centre and port chaplain.

“The 65-meter ship is one of the biggest vessels constructed for Sentinel Marine and is part of a new type of multi-role vessels to be introduced by the firm. In addition to their main role of protecting offshore workers, the ships can perform other tasks such as oil recovery, rescue towing and dynamic positioning,” said Sentinel.

The company said that the three remaining vessels under construction were scheduled for delivery within 2018 and that these would also undertake operations in the North Sea.

Rory Deans, chief executive of Sentinel Marine, said that the firm was proud to add the Mariner Sentinel to its fleet of ERRVs, which is the youngest operating in the sector.

He added: “The North Sea can be a harsh and hostile environment and we are continually looking at how we construct our fleet to ensure the safety of offshore personnel and the marine environment comes first.

“In addition to being custom-built to the highest technical standards, the multi-role nature of our vessels ensure that operating costs are kept low without compromising on capabilities.”

The charter for Mariner Sentinel was brokered by Braemar ACM Shipbrokers. In addition to this new vessel, Statoil also has one of the firm’s other ships, Portland Sentinel, operating on the Mariner field.

Mariner is a heavy oil field in the UK sector of the North Sea characterized by dense, viscous oil. The development concept includes a production, drilling and quarters (PDQ) platform based on a steel jacket, Mariner A, with a floating storage unit (FSU), Mariner B. Drilling will be carried out from the Mariner A drilling rig, with a jack-up rig assisting for the first four years.