Offshore staff
(US) - Cal Dive International, Inc. announced that it plans to convert a four-year old mono-hull vessel into a deepwater pipelay asset. The 485-ft vessel, to be namedCaesar, comes equipped with a DP2 system.
The conversion program will primarily involve the installation of a conventional S-lay pipelay system together with a main crane and a significant upgrade to the vessel's accommodation capacity.
A conversion team has been assembled with a base at Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The vessel is expected to enter active service at the end of 1Q 2007. The capital cost to purchase the vessel and complete the conversion is approximately $125 million.
Martin Ferron, president of Cal Dive commented, "The introduction ofCaesar will complete the set of tools we need to address the development of our expanding internal portfolio of deepwater projects.
As an S-lay vessel,Caesar does not need a spoolbase and will therefore be very mobile in the worldwide market. It will also provide us with the incremental capability to lay export pipelines and handle steel catenary risers in deepwater."
1/11/06
