In the late winter of 2017, the semisubmersible oil drilling rig Leiv Eiriksson temporarily left its drilling location in the Barents Sea to undergo maintenance in the port of Olen in Norway. Greencarrier Freight Services was contacted by our global partner Crane Worldwide Logistics and the rig drilling company Ocean Rig, to provide logistics services for the rig move and subsequent yard stay. This is how we helped them out!
Rig Logistics Solutions – a one-stop-shop solution
Our ”Rig Logistics Solutions” is a concept which can be tailor-made, depending on the needs and requirements of the customer. Among the services we are able to provide are rig clearance administration, freight forwarding, security staff, tugboats, pilots, and berthing as well as general staff for project coordination.
In the case of Leiv Eiriksson, we assisted our client with rig clearance, pilots, transport of material needed for maintenance, and also helped to arrange pilots for the route from the open sea into the fjord where Ølen and the shipyard operated by Westcon is located.
Maritime pilots with local expertise navigated the rig to the port
While the oil rig was navigated by its own crew from its point of origin in the Barents Sea, manoeuvring it inside a narrower strait, such as a typical Norwegian fjord, required the skills and knowledge of local maritime pilots and a tugboat shipowner. The pilots have detailed knowledge of certain waterways such as their currents and the differences in depth and tide.
Greencarrier Freight Services provided a pilot for the oil rig once it reached the mouth of the fjord. The pilots are certified by the Norwegian Coastal Administration and usually deployed to the rig by a helicopter or, occasionally, a boat, also arranged by Greencarrier Freight Services. The pilot manoeuvred the rig into the fjord and assisted in berthing it safely by the quay along with the help of tugboats. When the rig needed to be turned, tugboats and a maritime pilot navigated it further out in the fjord and turned it there before returning to shore.
Before the pilot stepped aboard the rig, the entire operation was planned in detail during a meeting involving the pilot as well as representatives from the oil rig company, the Norwegian Coastal Administration, the shipyard, and Greencarrier Freight Services.
Demanding rig procedures require reliable, experienced partners
Greencarrier Freight Services has a service agreement with Ocean Rig through our partner Crane Worldwide Logistics. We have previously worked with a number of their oil rigs located in the Gulf of Mexico, the South Atlantic, the Arctic Ocean and other locations worldwide. Client response has been very positive as they value having an experienced partner handling all the administration during demanding rig moves and yard stays. While oil rigs are mostly deployed out to sea, not all maintenance and repairs can be performed offshore, including re-certification and classification work, hence the need for occasional rig moves to a shipyard. As for Leiv Eiriksson, the rig left Olen on March 26, 2018, and is once again drilling for oil in the Barents Sea.
If you have any questions about our oil rig logistics solutions or wish to know more about Greencarrier Freight Services’ work with the oil and gas upstream industry, feel free to contact me. For other interesting Greencarrier blog articles, click on any of the entries in the right-hand column.
