Equinor Wind US, a U.S. offshore wind business of the Norwegian energy firm Equinor, has awarded a contract for geophysical survey services to MMT, in partnership with Reach Subsea.
The contract covers high resolution geophysical, benthic surveys, and shallow subsurface surveys for the planning and engineering of Equinor’s lease area offshore New England.
The project will be performed utilizing the Stril Explorer vessel, which is equipped with the Surveyor Interceptor SROV. Survey operations are expected to start in late summer 2020 and are expected to run continuously throughout to Q2 2021.
"The SROV Surveyor Interceptor has been developed by MMT and Reach Subsea with the aim of revolutionizing geophysical surveys. For this project, the use of the SROV onboard the Stril Explorer will significantly increase the operational window, cut operation time, and reduce the impact on the surrounding wildlife by reducing the noise in the water column," MMT said.
According to MMT, the method will also allow all surveys to be conducted from a single vessel rather than the standard two-vessel deployment.
P-O Sverlinger, CEO MMT said: "This award is strategically important as MMT/Reach has been preparing to support our clients in the US offshore wind industry for more than two years now. We have a long experience from the Renewables segment in Europe and developers have shown interest in using our professional support in the US market. They know what we can deliver and we know their requirements on both a safe and efficient operation and the quality of deliverables.”
Jostein Alendal, CEO Reach Subsea comments: “This major award is a testament to the combined capabilities of Reach and MMT, our track record worldwide, and our ability to develop innovative solutions. To be in the technological forefront demands a good portion of stamina and it is encouraging for the whole team to get this recognition from a leading operator like Equinor.
This type of big volume challenges really gives a push to our drive to always take the next step into the future of digitalization and emission free operations. Offshore installations in all forms will increase in the coming years and mapping of the entire seafloor has just started, exciting times ahead.”
Financial details of the contract were not disclosed.