Van Oord said it has completed high-precision ballasting operations for the West White Rose project in Canada and installed a protective scour edge around the project’s Concrete Gravity Structure (CGS). The company deployed its flexible fallpipe vessels Nordnes and Stornes for the work.
The West White Rose project, located in the Jeanne d'Arc Basin approximately 350 kilometres off the east coast of Newfoundland, is an expansion of the White Rose field. It comprises a fixed drilling platform on a custom-designed CGS with a base diameter of 122 metres and a height of 145 metres, supporting an integrated drilling and production topside. Van Oord’s scope covers four phases: seabed preparation, solid ballasting activities, scour protection, and flowline protection.
In the first phase, completed in September 2024, Van Oord installed a seabed preparation layer to serve as the CGS foundation.
During the second phase, Van Oord carried out solid ballasting of the CGS to ensure sufficient weight for seabed stability once positioned. Using dynamic positioning, Nordnes and Stornes approached the CGS simultaneously, one on each side, and inserted MagnaDense (iron ore) via boom belt-conveyors into the outer ring compartments. The vessels remained 180 degrees apart while moving around the CGS to fill all 24 compartments evenly. These ballasting operations prepared the structure for tow-out.
In the third phase, Van Oord deployed Nordnes to install a protective scour edge around the CGS. The final phase, scheduled for Q4, will involve stabilising the pipelines from the drilling platform on the seabed. Once completed, the client will be able to bring the platform into operation.
Van Oord Dredging and Marine Contractors B.V. is an international marine contractor headquartered in Rotterdam; it is family-owned and operates worldwide in dredging and marine infrastructure.