The Ulstein-owned vessel BLUE QUEEN has been awarded a 6-year contract by Wagenborg Offshore to support Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij (NAM) and SHELL UK Exploration & Production (Shell UK) with their offshore operations on the southern region of the North Sea. The so-called ‘Walk-to-Work Emergency Response and Rescue Vessel’ (W2W ERRV) will be operated by Wagenborg Offshore as a standby and support vessel for inspection and maintenance of the unmanned platforms in both Dutch and British waters.
Walk to work, emergency response and rescue operations
For the provision of the W2W ERRV vessel to NAM-Shell, Wagenborg and Ulstein have signed an agreement for the delivery of a standard ‘PX121 Platform Supply Vessel’ (PSV). Built according the Ulstein Accommodation Standard, the PX121 has gained excellent feedback from the offshore industry due to a favourable combination of fuel-efficiency and load capacity. The PX121 is particularly suited for a conversion to other types of services, such as walk-to-work or Emergency Response and Rescue, without comprising her outstanding Dynamic Positioning performance.
The vessel has been repainted in the Wagenborg colours. On the Dutch shipyard Royal Niestern Sander in Delfzijl, the Netherlands, approximately 80 employees will be working on the PX121 for the conversion from a PSV into a W2W ERRV vessel. The PX121 will be equipped with a.o. an additional accommodation module, motion compensated gangway and motion compensated crane, to comply with the requirements of NAM-Shell. The vessel will be converted in 16 weeks and is expected to be delivered to Wagenborg Offshore March 2018. The vessel will start operations in Q1 2018.
Producing natural gas offshore
By producing natural gas offshore NAM and Shell UK face major challenges to execute offshore operations as safe and efficient as possible and increase the effectiveness of offshore maintenance activities to reduce costs. Modern offshore production platforms are smaller and normally unmanned without ‘helicopter deck’, resulting in a need for Walk-to-Work vessels. With Walk-to-Work vessels offshore activities can be supported more safe, efficient, effective and productive, as already proven by the successful Walk-to-Work vessel Kroonborg.
