Sparrows secures crane work on Kraken FPSO

UK’s offshore crane services specialist Sparrows Group has secured a contract for the provision of crane management services at the Kraken Field in the UK North Sea. 

Sparrows said that the three-year contract is for the provision of support during the pre-operations and operations phase aboard the floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel being deployed on the Kraken field, some 125 kilometers east of the Shetland Islands.

The company will be in charge of maintaining four cranes and all lifting equipment on the Kraken field’s FPSO, as well as providing inspection and training services as required. Full onshore management and engineering support for the scope is included in the contract.

This is another contract in new North Sea developments for Sparrows after the company sealed an initial five-year contract to deliver cranes and maintenance services at Statoil’s Mariner development which is expected to deliver first oil in 2018.

Sparrows Group CEO Stewart Mitchell said: “Winning work on one of the North Sea’s most high profile developments in recent years is great news for the business and shows that there is still success to be had in the region.

“In the current environment, it is particularly pleasing to be winning work at new developments which, combined with retaining our existing work, puts us in a strong position moving into 2017.”

To remind, the FPSO unit Armada Kraken, meant for the Kraken field development, is currently undergoing inspection and certification in Rotterdam before its deployment to the field.

Cairn said in a project update on Tuesday that the Kraken development progressed well in 2016 finishing the year ahead of budget and on schedule for first oil in the second quarter of 2017.

The Kraken field is a large heavy oil accumulation operated by EnQuest with Cairn as its partner.