McDermott International has signed an agreement with PD Ports which paves the way for McDermott to operate a spoolbase to serve projects in the North Sea.
McDermott says it expects to have the facility, at the Port of Hartlepool, northeast England, available for projects early 2015.
The firm says the spoolbase will support its re-entry into the North Sea reel-lay market.
“This agreement for the spoolbase is an important milestone towards supporting McDermott’s re-entry into the North Sea market,” says Tony Duncan, Executive Vice President, Subsea.
“We look to combine the prime location of the Hartlepool spoolbase for quick access to project sites with McDermott’s high standards, and high-performance reel-lay capabilities provided by our Lay Vessel North Ocean 105. We are firmly committed to meeting our clients’ needs in the region.”
The North Ocean was recently contracted to Petrobras for deepwater umbilical and flexible pipe installation in the pre-salt region and Campos Basin area offshore Brazil. The contract is expected to start during Q3 2014, and last about 200 days, with an option to extend.
In late 2012, McDermott agreed to work with new player Stavanger-based Ocean Installer as part of its North Sea re-entry strategy, of a project specific alliance basis.
However, the alliance was dissolved last year, with Ocean Installer citing "different strategies".
