Japanese ship builder Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) has terminated a shipbuilding contract with Island Offshore for the building of the Island Navigator light well intervention vessel (artist's illustration, right, from Rolls Royce).
The termination was with agreement with Island Offshore and came amid "difficulties" in the vessel's engineering process, "as well as with increases of material costs since the contract was signed."
KHI had hoped to enter the offshore oil and gas industry and signed the contract for the Island Navigator with Island Offshore in November 2013. It was to be the first vessel of this type to be constructed by KHI, the Japanese firm said in a statement today (28 December).
But, says Island Offshore in a 26 December statement: "Combined with a common understanding that the environment surrounding the offshore development industry is, and will be, severe and unpredictable in the period of the vessel’s remaining construction, and the ongoing financial restructuring of the Island Offshore Group, KHI and Island Offshore reached a mutual agreement to terminate the shipbuilding contract for the Vessel."
“The Island Navigator would have been a fantastic vessel. Going forward we choose to develop our existing light well intervention vessels, which still is the leading and most modern vessels within its niche,” says Håvard Ulstein, Managing Director of Island Offshore Management.
While Island Offshore says the termination will not have any negative economical consequence, KHI said that the termination will result in "extraordinary losses" for it.
The Rolls Royce design vessel would have been be a combined well intervention and top hole drilling vessel built according to Mobile Offshore Unit regulations.
The vessel was due to be delivered from Kawasaki Heavy Industries in January 2019, to a fifth generation DP3, UT777 design.
Island Navigator would have been 170m-long, and 28m-wide. It would be cheaper to operate than Island Offshore's existing well intervention vessels, boasts better station keeping and has better deck equipment enabling it to lower items into deeper waters. It would have had a 150-tonne active heave compensated subsea crane and accommodation for 91 people.
The ice-class (OCE-1B) vessel would have been equipped with a built-in handling tower to secure a safe working environment during operations in harsh conditions, and two work class remotely operated vehicles. Its helicopter deck is towards the middle of the vessel, to secure optimal landing conditions in rough weather.
It would also have been able to perform top hole drilling; construction work; subsea installation work; secure wells; trenching, plugging and abandonment work; tower and module handling; inspection, repair and maintenance work; and Xmas tree installation.
Earlier this monht, Singapore-based Ultra Deep Solutions signed a letter of intent to build a SALT 310 well intervention vessel at China Merchants Heavy Industry (CMHI) yard in Shenzhen.
Ultra Deep Solutions says the vessel would be capable of well intervention, flex lay and rigid pipe lay in 3000m water depth.
It would have a "first-of-a-kind," 3-in-1 tower designed by Huisman in the Netherlands. The crane will also be Huisman built, at 600-1000-tonne, and able to work to 3000m water depth.
The vessel will also have a 650 msw hydrogen saturation system, two work class ROVs built into hangars and two in-built hydrogen refineries.
UDS specializes in the design, construction and operations of ultra-deep diving heavy construction vessels to the offshore industry.
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