Bluewhale Offshore announces new contract for SSCV Blue Gretha
Bluewhale Offshore has secured an accommodation and heavy-lift contract for the semisubmersible crane vessel (SSCV) Blue Gretha with an EPC contractor for the Bonga North project offshore Nigeria, according to the company's recent LinkedIn post.
The $5-billion project, which is being developed by Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo), was greenlighted last December. The FID called for a deepwater oil and gas field located off the coast of Nigeria to be developed as a subsea tieback to an existing FPSO unit.
The service contract includes a firm period of 15 months plus optional periods. The SSCV Blue Gretha, formerly known as Huadian Zhongji 01, is currently being refurbished and prepared at the CIMC Raffles Shipyard in Yantai, China.
Bluewhale says that the SSCV Blue Gretha, measuring 81 meters in length and equipped with two 1,800MT Huisman cranes, can accommodate 618 personnel on board. The company also notes that the vessel offers a versatile solution for gangway connection and heavy-lift support, and has “proven performance across key energy sectors.” These include operations offshore Brazil for Petrobras from 2013-2017, and in China’s offshore wind sector, where the vessel played “a key role” in multiple coastal wind farm projects.
Last week, Bluewhale Offshore and OOS Group signed a memorandum of understanding, under which Bluewhale Offshore will hold a majority stake in OOS International. The The combination aims to highlight Bluewhale’s project delivery and asset operations with OOS Group’s ship management and crewing services. OOS International will be rebranded as BlueOOS.
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About the Author
Bruce Beaubouef
Managing Editor
Bruce Beaubouef is Managing Editor for Offshore magazine. In that capacity, he plans and oversees content for the magazine; writes features on technologies and trends for the magazine; writes news updates for the website; creates and moderates topical webinars; and creates videos that focus on offshore oil and gas and renewable energies. Beaubouef has been in the oil and gas trade media for 25 years, starting out as Editor of Hart’s Pipeline Digest in 1998. From there, he went on to serve as Associate Editor for Pipe Line and Gas Industry for Gulf Publishing for four years before rejoining Hart Publications as Editor of PipeLine and Gas Technology in 2003. He joined Offshore magazine as Managing Editor in 2010, at that time owned by PennWell Corp. Beaubouef earned his Ph.D. at the University of Houston in 1997, and his dissertation was published in book form by Texas A&M University Press in September 2007 as The Strategic Petroleum Reserve: U.S. Energy Security and Oil Politics, 1975-2005.