Australia calling two Solstad Offshore vessels on subsea and oil & gas assignments

Norwegian offshore vessel owner Solstad Offshore has picked up work for one of its anchor handling tug supply (AHTS) and construction support vessels (CSVs) in Australia.

According to Solstad Offshore, the CSV Normand Australis has been hired by an undisclosed subsea contractor for a minimum of 150 days firm, with options to extend thereafter. The contract will start during 4Q 2023.

This vessel is one of four CSVs that secured contracts with companies from the offshore wind and oil & gas industries in August 2022 for activities in North Europe, West Africa, and Asia. The 2009-built CSV Normand Australis is of Conan Wu design and can accommodate 118 people.

On the other hand, Solstad Offshore’s large AHTS Normand Sirius has been contracted by an undisclosed international energy player for a minimum period of 160 days to support a drilling campaign offshore Western Australia. The 2014-built CSV Normand Sirius is of UT 731 CD design and can accommodate 40 people.

While this contract will begin in 2Q 2024, the operator has options to extend the contract by a further 250 days beyond the firm contract period. This is one of the five large AHTS vessels that were booked for work in West Africa in August 2023 by Ocean Installer.

Both of the vessels, which have now secured new deals, will be owned by Solstad Newco after the planned refinancing of Solstad, as agreed with Aker in October 2023.

Solstad Offshore won several assignments recently, including contract extensions with Equinor, Subsea 7, and DeepOcean for one of its AHTS vessels and two construction support vessels (CSVs).