Accommodation Vessel arrives at MAR
Posted 22, Mar 16
The Montrose Area Redevelopment (MAR) project has reached a milestone with the arrival on station of the Safe Boreas accommodation vessel. The Safe Boreas was named after the Greek god of the north wind and the bringer of cold winter air, reflecting the vessel’s capability for operating in the challenging conditions of the North Sea.
The vessel will support the complex next four phases of the MAR project: Montrose shutdown; bridge linked platform topsides installation; hook up; and dynamic commissioning and start-up. It is expected to be in the field until Q4 2016.
Safe Boreas connected to Montrose 1
The Montrose Area Redevelopment (MAR) is a major capital project that sees the significant modification and expansion of the existing Montrose Area infrastructure including the development of three new fields: Godwin, Cayley and Shaw. A new bridge-linked platform (BLP) will be connected to the Montrose Alpha platform – one of the oldest in the North Sea - to provide additional process and plant support facilities.
The Godwin Field has already been developed via an extended reach well from the Arbroath platform. The Cayley and Shaw fields are being developed as subsea tie-backs to the BLP. As well as developing the new fields the MAR project is expected to extend the life of the existing Montrose Area fields by at least 13 years, to beyond 2030. Production from Shaw and Cayley is expected to start in 2017, with gross incremental production peaking at up to 40,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day.
Repsol Sinopec Resources UK Limited is the operator with a working interest of 58.97%, and Marubeni Oil & Gas (U.K.) Limited is the sole partner.
The MAR project has created and sustained more than 2,000 skilled jobs in the UK and Europe.