Oceaneering International announced Monday that it has taken delivery of a newbuild subsea construction support vessel, Ocean Evolution, built by BAE Systems in the US.
The US-flagged, Jones Act-compliant multi-service vessel (MSV) has completed sea trials and received all necessary ABS and U.S. Coast Guard certifications and is currently in Port Fourchon, La., completing final outfitting and preparing for project work scheduled to begin in June.
Oceaneering said the vessel is designed to serve deepwater stimulation and intervention needs with its ABS Well Stimulation and Well Intervention (WS/WI) ready notation and under deck capacity to store special products. Its capabilities are headlined by its 250-metric-ton active heave compensated (AHC) crane, two work-class remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROVs) with AHC launch systems, survey systems and subsea tooling all built for work in up to 4,000-meter water depths.
Mike Ellis, Vice President, Subsea Projects, said, “The Ocean Evolution is a world class vessel ready to service the construction and intervention needs of our customers in deepwater. We are excited about the upcoming integrated services that will be provided with this vessel when combined with Oceaneering’s portfolio of subsea products and services. This combination will provide unmatched productivity, safety, and value for many years to come.”
Measuring 108 meters long, 22 meters wide and Light Ship weight 6,900 tons, Ocean Evolution is a DP2 subsea MSV with accommodations for 110 persons, helideck and a working moonpool measuring 7 meters x 7 meters. It is equipped to provide installation services for subsea tiebacks, solutions for subsea maintenance, repair and decommissioning and well stimulation and light well intervention services, Oceaneering said.
The vessel’s 1,170-square-meter steel-constructed deck is designed to carry heavy loads and equipment, which accommodates a wide variety of missions. The deck is rated to support 10 metric tons per square meter, with a total cargo carrying capacity of 1,900 metric tons. The steel deck and on deck utilities including water, power, fuel and communications enables easier and faster loading, welding tie down and hook up of specialized deck equipment during project mobilizations and demobilizations.
The vessel’s 250-metric-ton AHC main crane offers a 4,000 meters working depth capacity and has a special lifting mode that allows heavy lifts with alternate reeving of the boom eliminating the jib that provides increased hook heights of 36 meters above the main deck. This provides the ability for crews to lift tall wellheads, large pin piles, and other oversized equipment off the deck utilizing the maximum lifting capacity of the crane. A second auxiliary crane on deck adjacent to the working moonpool is capable of 40 metric tons for lifting and handling of equipment on deck and to water depths of 180 meters.
Ocean Evolution features a unique layout bridge, configured with port and starboard redundant control stations. These control station locations provide bridge officers and dynamic positioning operators a better view of crane operations, ROV deployment and simultaneous operations (SIMOPS) with other vessels and platforms on each side of the vessel.
Ocean Evolution is built with five low-emission EPA Tier 4 diesel engines with a combined generating capacity of 16 megawatts on a three-bus system. The combination of five engines and third bus provides enough excess capacity to allow full capability and redundancy of the vessel if one engine is down for maintenance.
Ocean Evolution features enhanced station keeping capabilities, which allows it to maintain position even during extreme weather conditions. The vessel’s position is held using two tunnel thrusters and a drop down thruster in the bow along with two Azipull thrusters in the stern. Props on the propulsion systems can be turned 360⁰ and were designed to optimize dynamic positioning of the vessel. The vessel achieved an ERN station keeping reliability rating of 99.99.99.99 which is the highest rating possible further proving the ability of the vessel to keep station in difficult conditions.
The vessels design and construction was done with well stimulation and light well intervention in mind as a key capability. The underdeck storage capacity of up to 413 cubic meters of special products maximizes use of the critical deck space for pumping and intervention equipment. The vessel layout and safety systems meet ABS class requirements for a special well stimulation and well intervention notation.
The vessel is equipped with two Oceaneering work class ROV systems. One 220-horsepower Millennium Plus and one 250-horsepower NEXXUS systems are on board, each with active heave compensated launch and recovery systems installed in a custom indoor hanger for port and starboard launch. Integrated survey and communication systems round out permanently installed equipment that provide positioning and data services for all operations.
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