Supply Vessel Crashes into ‘Maersk Innovator’ Rig

An offshore supply vessel crashed yesterday into the Maersk Innovator rig, located in the Norwegian part of the North Sea.

Supply Vessel Crashes into 'Maersk Innovator' Rig

According to the Norwegian news website Aftenbladet.no, the vessel hit the rig yesterday around 15:00. No injuries have been reported.

Jacob Korsgaard, CEO of Maersk Drilling Norge, told Aftenbladet that the boat had lost its positioning ability and then drifted out of position and into the rig. According to Korsgaard, the incident was relatively unexciting.

“This was relatively uneventful, but we examine whether there is damage to both the boat and rig. We have reported the incident to the authorities in cooperation with the operator in the field ConocoPhillips. It is not normal that something like this happens, but we have very good security practices to follow it up.”

He also said that operations at the rig are running smoothly today.

ConocoPhillips did not immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment, sent by Offshore Energy Today.

The rig

Mærsk Innovator is a jack-up drilling rig built at Hyundai in South Korea in 2002. The rig is being used by ConocoPhillips at its Ekofisk field in the North Sea.

The Ekofisk field was discovered in 1969 and is the oldest of the oil and gas fields on the Norwegian shelf that is still producing. The field is located about 280 km southwest of Stavanger.

Update – 1

12.12.2013.

In an e-mail sent to Offshore Energy Today, ConocoPhillips spokesperson confirmed the incident occurred.

“On 10 December, one of the supply vessels at Ekofisk made contact with one leg of a drilling rig. The rig and vessel are routinely inspected. There was no impact to Ekofisk production,”  Tore Falck, Sr. Communications Representative for ConocoPhillips in Norway said.

 

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Offshore Energy Today Staff, December 11, 2013