Statoil has awarded Simon Møkster Shipping the contract for building and operating a new standby vessel for the fields in the Halten/Nordland area of the Norwegian Sea. The contract is worth around NOK 600 million.
Last year Statoil entered into a cooperation agreement with Shell and Norsk Hydro for shared standby vessels in the Halten/Nordland area.
“The standby vessel is the final stage in the work of establishing an emergency response plan for the Halten/Nordland area. The ship represents a new type of vessel with features we haven’t seen before,” reports Steinar Solvang, responsible for health, safety and the environment in Statoil's Halten/Nordland business cluster.
The ship, which is planned to be operational on 1 July 2003, will be able to accommodate up to 370 people in the event of a major incident.
With the aid of a newly developed stern, the vessel will be able to pick up freefall lifeboats and man overboard (MOB) boats. It will therefore be capable of operating MOB boats in extreme weather conditions.
The vessel will be equipped with a helicopter pad; this will enable combined operations with the search and rescue (SAR) helicopter, which is also included in the emergency response plan for Halten/Nordland.
The vessel will play a key role in oil spill preparedness. In addition to oil protection equipment, it will have a workshop for analysing oil discharges. There will also be technology on board that can be used with the helicopter to combat oil spills.
The standby vessel will be around 90 metres long and 18 metres wide. It will be able to maintain a speed of 20 knots and will have a crew of 12. The ship will be built at Aker Aukra, in cooperation with Langsten, in western Norway.