Harris Pye repairs damaged drillship offshore West Africa

Aug. 8, 2016
Harris Pye Engineering Group recently assisted a Pacific International Drilling West Africa’s drillship when the Pacific Bora suffered damage to the starboard aft hull offshore Nigeria.

Offshore staff

BARRY, UKHarris Pye Engineering Group recently assisted a Pacific International Drilling West Africa’s (PIDWAL) drillship when the Pacific Bora suffered damage to the starboard aft hull offshore Nigeria.

The company said the repair was evaluated; all necessary specialists and labor, steel, tools, and equipment were mobilized; and the repair was made, installed, painted, and tested in less than two weeks of the Harris Pye team boarding the Pacific Bora.

A team of one supervisor and three specialist tradesmen boarded the rig on May 3 offshore Nigeria, and sailed with it to the calm waters offshore Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, where the work was successfully undertaken. The Harris Pye crew disembarked on May 16.

Chris David, chief technical officer of the global engineering group, said: “We studied the repair scope, and put together a method statement to perform the repair work while the rig is afloat to avoid any dry docking and other cofferdam and divers cost, in order to bring the Pacific Bora back to 100% operability in under two weeks.

“PIDWAL had put together a task risk assessment for trimming the rig by forward, to maintain the dented portion 2.1 m [6.8 ft] above water to enable us to proceed with the repair. They also provided all tools and consumables for the repair works, including the overhanging/ overboard scaffolding, so there were no delays due to customs holdups. The steel plate and rubbing bar for the repair were purchased by Harris Pye UK; freight was handled by PIDWAL.”

The following is the work the company undertook:

  • Crop and remove the damaged section of the shell plating
  • Prepare the edges in way of cut out for the installation of new plate
  • Prepare new plate and edge prepare it ready for installation
  • Install and weld prefabricated sections of shell/transom plating
  • Install and weld Ø60 half round bar
  • Perform welding according to Class-approved WPS (ABS Class)
  • Perform NDT by client-arranged third party
  • Apply touch-up paint.

08/08/2016

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