‘Songa Dee’ SPS exceeds planned budget

Songa Offshore’s semi-submersible drilling rig Songa Dee was on a scheduled special periodic survey (SPS) at Invergordon Scotland from August 24, 2014 till November 16, 2014.

Songa Offshore has said today in its Q4 2014 report that the yard stay costs were $105 million in comparison to a planned budget of $90 million, in addition to operating costs in the period.

The rig stayed at yard until November 16, when it moved to perform inclination tests and acceptance testing in waters close to the yard. On December 5, the rig moved to the Norwegian coast to complete the acceptance tests. Following completion of the SPS, the rig was back in operation on the Gullfaks field December 26, continuing to work under the Statoil contract.

The out of service period, initially planned to be 65 days, was completed in 124 days. According to Songa, this delay was mainly caused by an unexpected failure on one of the four main engines and an acceptance-testing period that extended longer than planned after the SPS.

Songa Offshore CEO, Bjornar Iversen, has said in his Q4 presentation today that the company is not happy by SPS and that “the technical team will be strengthened capturing the lessons learned from the shipyard project”. Iversen also added that securing new contracts is a priority for Songa Offshore as the company expects 2015 to be a challenging year due to fall in the oil price.

Songa’s operating revenue for the fourth quarter 2014 was $64.9 million, compared to $140.1 million in the fourth quarter 2013. The company has said that the decrease is primarily due to the absence of revenue contribution from Songa Venus and Songa Mercur of $43.7 million and the Songa Dee out of service period of $29.5 million.

Offshore Energy Today Staff