MDL Completes 8-Month North Sea Campaign

January 15, 2021 | Oil & Gas | Energy Facts Staff Writer | 4min

MDL has completed a multi-project campaign in the Norwegian and UK Continental Shelves with an international contractor.

The campaign commenced in May and covered installation of umbilicals and flexible jumpers in 3 different fields on both sides of the North Sea. In total 12 reels of product were installed.

MDL Third-generation Reel Drive System (RDS) was used for the SURF deployment across all scopes, mobilised onboard a single vessel for the length of the campaign.

MDL’s unique RDS – the most compact system of its kind in the market thanks to the integrated MDL Track and Cradle System – had made a comeback to the client’s vessel, where it had been previously used offshore Libya and in the UKCS.

In the final project of the campaign – completed in December – the RDS was complemented by the MDL TTS-2/140 Series Tensioner to form a horizontal lay spread. In client’s anticipation of overlapping scopes on this project due to weather conditions, MDL mobilised a second spread, compatible with a new vessel, within 48 hours of client enquiry.

Alexander Wilson, MDL BD Manager, said:

“Returning customers are always a good sign, while returning vessel and equipment pairings are a sure way of reducing project costs. Using historic vessel and equipment integration data simplified the engineering scope in the planning stage on the first project of this campaign, with the returns multiplying across the remaining scopes.

“Further savings were achieved by keeping the system on board the vessel in-between projects, which cut out all the engineering, personnel and quayside costs associated with mobbing and demobbing of equipment.

“While these are always welcome benefits, planning of the campaign in this way helped alleviate the logistical challenges posed by the pandemic.

“This is just one example of how our partnership approach to provide client support helps us find time and cost savings on every mission – so important, especially in such challenging times like today.

“With the looming winter, the last project was probably the most challenging from a planning perspective. The customer had a concern about how the weather would affect the installation and considered fast-tracking the operations by deploying a second installation vessel simultaneously with the original solution. Within 48hours of that enquiry we had a complete spread compatible with the new vessel ready to be mobilised, a Project Engineer appointed and offshore team briefed with regards to the scope and quarantine plans.

“While this spread was not in the end required, I believe our response demonstrated our commitment to solving customer’s challenges swiftly and safely – without cutting corners.”