Boskalis' subsidiary delivers project cargo for deepwater oil and gas project Lucius in GOM
Boskalis' subsidiary Dockwise safely and successfully offloaded the 23,000-tonne Lucius spar last week for the Lucius deepwater oil and natural gas project located in the Gulf of Mexico, the Company said in a press release.
The Lucius truss spar, measuring 184 meters (605 feet) long and 34 meters (110 feet) in diameter, was loaded onto the Mighty Servant 1 by means of skid on operation at Pori, Finland. The spar was transported 7,700 nautical miles and discharged at Ingleside, Texas and delivered back to Technip. The Lucius Development is located in Keathley Canyon Block 875 in the Gulf of Mexico and is operated by Anadarko Petroleum Corporation.
Spars are usually offloaded over the stern of a semisubmersible heavy transport vessel. However, due to the restricted clearance space at Ingleside, an innovative offloading approach was required. The engineering team at Dockwise developed an approach whereby the spar was unloaded over the side necessitating the design and installation of new buoyancy tanks.
The length of the Lucius spar reached the Mighty Servant 1's carrying capacity limit extending nearly 40 meters over the stern of the vessel. With the commissioning of the Dockwise Vanguard early this year, Dockwise is strategically well positioned to accommodate larger structure sizes in the future.
Boskalis' strategy is aimed at benefitting from key macro-economic factors which drive worldwide demand in our markets: expansion of the global economy, increase in energy consumption, global population growth and the challenges that go hand in hand with climate change. This delivery by Dockwise is closely related to the increase in energy consumption.
Dockwise orderbook
The Lucius spar contract was awarded to Dockwise in 2011. The order flow to date in 2013 has been well spread over oil and gas and port and marine clients. Year to date, the total order intake amounted to approximately USD 130 million. The acquisition of Dockwise by Boskalis was finalized at the end of March and the Dockwise results will be included in the consolidated Boskalis figures from the second quarter 2013. Boskalis will publish its half-year results on 15 August 2013.
Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V. is a leading global services provider operating in the dredging, maritime infrastructure and maritime services sectors. The company provides creative and innovative all-round solutions to infrastructural challenges in the maritime, coastal and delta regions of the world with the construction and maintenance of ports and waterways, land reclamation, coastal defense and riverbank protection. In addition, Boskalis offers a wide variety of marine services and contracting for the offshore energy sector including subsea, heavy transport, lifting and installation (through Boskalis Offshore and Dockwise) and towage and salvage (through SMIT).
It also has strategic partnerships in the Middle East (Archirodon) and in terminal services (Smit Lamnalco). With a versatile fleet of over 1,100 units Boskalis operates in around 75 countries across six continents. Including its share in partnerships, Boskalis has approximately 15,600 employees.