Diamond to roll out Seacroft’s vessel control program on three UK rigs

Following the successful rollout of Seacroft Marine’s ‘SafeZone 500’ marine vessel control and management program aboard Diamond Offshore’s Ocean Patriot drilling rig, Diamond Offshore has contracted Seacroft to implement the program on its other three UK-based rigs the Ocean Endeavour, Ocean Valiant, and Ocean GreatWhite.

Seacroft Marine is an Aberdeen-based marine consultancy providing advice, inspection and assurance services to offshore installation operators, drilling contractors and the support vessels attending them, and to ports and harbors.

Seacroft said on Tuesday that the SafeZone 500 – a program of procedures, training, and audit processes for the control of vessels attending offshore assets – was mainly being delivered to offshore production installations without a proper marine crew to date, but is increasingly being adopted by operators of mobile drilling rigs and other floating installations, who often have more marine expertise on board.

Michael Cowlam, technical director of Seacroft Marine Consultants Limited, said: “High performance drilling rigs like those in the Diamond Offshore fleet require a constant stream of supporting vessels bringing marine, drilling and domestic supplies – and shipping away waste for recycling. Each vessel movement carries with it a risk from which, regardless of the likelihood of collision, the consequences can be significant: this risk has to be managed.”

According to the company, SafeZone 500 gives asset owners assurance the risk is being suitably managed by setting out a series of procedures and a code of common-standard communication ensuring positive control over vessel movements and operations by the marine responsible person on board the installation or rig.

Seacroft Marine launched SafeZone 500 in 2017, since when some 1500 offshore personnel have been trained to the procedure’s standard of competence in the UK. The program is also being evaluated by clients overseas.

When it comes to the rigs’ contracts, both Ocean Endeavour and Ocean Valiant are currently under contracts with Shell in the UK with end dates set for mid-May 2021 and late February 2021, respectively.

Diamond’s Ocean GreatWhite drilling rig has recently completed drilling the Blackrock exploration well 204/5b-2 in the West of Shetland for Siccar Point. The rig’s contract with Siccar is set to end in late July after which the rig will work for an unnamed operator on a well-based contract until mid-October 2019.

The Ocean Patriot has been working for Apache in the UK since June 2018 and the contract is scheduled to end in early June 2020.

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