Osbit Ltd. has completed a £3 million (US$3.97 million) delivery of more than 300,000 tonnes of well intervention equipment to Houston-based Helix Energy Solutions Group Inc., part of a series of projects to supply three Helix vessels.

The equipment, scheduled to be installed this past week in Schiedam, The Netherlands, on Siem Helix 1, include a BOP maintenance and storage tower, intervention tension frame and moveable deck. Siem Helix 1 will be deployed offshore Brazil on a long-term well intervention services charter for Petrobras.

Northumberland, U.K.-based Osbit will provide a second suite of identical systems later in the year for Siem Helix 2. The series of projects, which total £11 million (US$14.56 million) worth of equipment, also includes Helix’s Q7000.

“We have worked with Osbit on multiple projects, and they continue to impress us with their diligence and flexibility,” Paul Shotton, Helix’s special projects manager, said in a written statement. “Osbit is a supplier that listens to our requirements and translates them into practical, high-quality and cost-effective results, time and time again.”

The delivery includes:

  • Maintenance tower: safe environment to assemble and maintain subsea equipment, incorporating a 125-tonne capacity lifting system to enable progressive assembly of stack modules;
  • Intervention tension frames (ITF): developed with Helix, each ITF provides a safer working environment from which coiled tubing and wireline operations can be conducted; the ITF has three platform levels for personnel to conduct operations using dedicated skidding systems with access provided by a telescopic gangway, which removes the need for engineers to use rope-access methods to operate the well intervention systems mounted within the ITF; and
  • Moveable deck: adjacent to the maintenance tower, it is a specialized mezzanine that provides an additional support and work area over the vessel’s moonpool.

“The design and build of these complex systems demonstrates Helix’s confidence in us to deliver safe, innovative, integrated equipment packages to meet their strict schedules and budgets,” Dr. Tony Trapp, executive chairman of Osbit, said in a prepared statement. “The extensive experience of our skilled engineers and commitment to delivering on spec, to budget and in time has allowed us to develop a strong relationship with Helix and to secure multiple large projects for the company, which support our growing presence in the international offshore industry.”

—Joseph Markman

Offshore