Offshore energy industry engineering firm Aquaterra Energy has won a $4.4 million contract with BW Energy for delivery of multiple conductors tensioning units for the repurposing of the Hibiscus Alpha jack-up rig to an offshore installation (OI), located offshore Gabon, West Africa.
Aquaterra will be responsible for procurement, engineering, manufacture, installation, and commissioning support of the conductors tensioning units.
Aquaterra Energy will provide its new digital tensioning monitoring system, which will remotely monitor the tension applied via an app.
The technology will monitor the tension being exerted on each riser, sending real-time data about the tension tolerance to BW Energy engineers off and onshore.
"Reduced human error and instant alerting create major safety improvements, while the long-term benefit of the data will enable operators to monitor asset fatigue over time, resulting in safer and more cost-efficient operations," Aquaterra said.
The rig modifications and installation of the conductor tension units will take place in Dubai. Once the rig is shipped and commissioned offshore Gabon, Aquaterra Energy will provide training and support to upskill the local workforce.
The announcement follows Aquaterra Energy’s recent partnership to repurpose jack-up rigs for green hydrogen production as well as its latest Sea Swift contract wins offshore Angola.
Conversion
As previously reported, Lamprell last month won the Hibiscus Alpha jack-up rig conversion contract. The scope of work involves the conversion of BWE’s Hibiscus Alpha jack-up rig into an offshore production facility.
Back in November 2020, BW Energy bought two jack-up drilling rigs from the drilling contractor Borr Drilling. The company said at the time it would use a converted rig for the development of the Hibiscus/Ruche satellite field in the Dussafu license offshore Gabon. BW said that using a converted jack-up rig would reduce investments and time to first oil.
BW Energy acquired two cold-stacked, 2003-built sister units “Atla” and “Balder” for $14.5 million in total.
“A jack-up conversion will enable us to reduce capital investments by about USD 100 million compared to our previous development plan,” Carl Krogh Arnet, the CEO of BW Energy, said last year.