Polar King joins Albuskjell decommissioning program

Offshore staff

STAVANGER, Norway – Subsea construction vessel Polar King has mobilized to the Norwegian North Sea for work in the Ekofisk area, related to a decommissioning project.

Reef Subsea subsidiary Technocean has chartered the newbuild vessel from GC Rieber Shipping - it is equipped with a 150-metric ton (165-ton) AHC subsea crane and new XLX/XLR workclass ROVs supplied by Perry Slingsby.

Technocean’s work scope, awarded by Heerema Marine Contractors, includes full project management and offshore operations for drill cuttings relocation services on the ConocoPhillips-operated Albuskjell platform.

The contract also calls for deployment of high-precision dredging systems, Scanmachine 2 and the Scancrawler, provided by another Reef subsidiary, Scanmudring.

Scanmudring will also employ the MoS (excavation monitoring system), claimed to offer accuracy of +/- 5 cm (2 in.) in critical environments or poor visibility.

Initial duration of the subsea removal work is estimated at 90 days.

07/21/2011