Boskalis said that salvage work to remove a capsized jackup from shallow waters near Angola's new liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plant should be completed by March 2015.
The three-legged Perro Negro 6 jackup drilling rig (shown at right) overturned last summer as it was being positioned to bore a tunnel beneath a canyon for a gas pipeline that would feed the US$10 billion LNG plant.
In February, Italian oil services firm Saipem chose South African company Smit Salvage, a unit of Netherlands-based dredging specialist Boskalis, to remove the rig.
"Including the preparation phase (engineering and outfitting), mobilization and demobilization, the salvage operation is expected to take around 10 months," a Boskalis spokesman said. "The work is expected to commence in this quarter."
The rig capsize killed at least one person and delayed gas supplies from Chevron-operated Block 0 and Block 14, which were to be linked to the plant this year via the tunnel.
The tunnelling work has not yet started, but gas from the Chevron blocks could helping Angola LNG boost production, which has only managed to reach 50% of capacity despite starting up nearly a year ago.
Chevron Corp. has a 36.4% share in the plant, Angolan state oil firm Sonangol has 22.8%, and Total SA, BP PLC and ENI SPA, each have 13.6% interest.
Previous coverage:
SMIT to salvage sunk platform, 4 February 2014
Saipem rig sinks off Angola, 2 July 2013
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