Aker BP ASA has exercised the first of eight one-month options to extend the charter of the tender support vessel (TSV) Safe Scandinavia, owner and operator Prosafe announced last week. The total value of the option is $4.5 million.
In mid-August 2018, the Safe Scandinavia commenced a seven-month firm operational period at the Ula platform in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea, which will now continue through to end-April 2019.
The Ula field is located in about 70 meters water depth in the southern part of the North Sea, and consists of three platforms. The field center serves as an area hub for the satellite field Tambar developed with a wellhead platform without processing facilities remotely controlled from Ula, as well as a third-party host for the Oselvar and Blane fields via subsea tiebacks.
The Oda development project (Spirit Energy is the operator) was sanctioned with tie in to Ula, and the plan for development and operations (PDO) was approved in 2017. Production is scheduled to start in the third quarter of 2019. Estimates indicate that 7.5 million Sm3 o.e. can be recovered from the field.
Prior to the Ula contract for Aker BP, the Safe Scandinavia supported operations at Oseberg Øst on the NCS for Equinor (then Statoil) from March 2016 to June 2018.
The 1984-built Safe Scandinavia was upgraded in 2003 and completed a life extension refurbishment in 2014. It was converted into a TSV in 2015/2016.